Cook Islands swimmer Lanihei Connolly made a memorable Olympic Games debut in Paris, France, on Saturday night.

Connolly competed in the Women’s 100m metres Breaststroke event, finishing her race with a personal best time of 1 minute 10.45 seconds.

She finished outside the top 16 who advanced to the next round after the five heats.

In the lead up to her event, Connolly told foxsports.com.au: “I take so much pride and I think it’s so cool to put such a small country on the map. I just think it’s so cool to represent my family and my family and do so well.”

“I want to bring light to the Cook Islands. I feel very privileged to represent my heritage. I just hope my other family members and other kids in the Cook Islands look at this experience and think it is really cool and get inspired to take up their own sport.”

Connolly set her sight on representing the Cook Islands at the Paris Olympics after a strong debut at the Pacific Games in Solomon Islands last year. She won gold in the 50-metre breaststroke for women and silver in the 100-metre breaststroke at the regional event.

Her pursuit of becoming an Olympian began in New Zealand, with Connolly learning to swim in Auckland before realising she needed further opportunities to advance her career.

The 18-year-old is academically minded and, after approaching her nation’s athletic federation, she was able to earn a World Aquatics Scholarship to Bond University on the Gold Coast to advance her hopes.

“Sometimes I reflect on it, wondering, ‘How did I end up here?’. It is so cool,” she told foxsports.com.au.

“This has been great, swimming in Australia with some of the best swimmers in the world, with great coaches and a great environment. I’ve already seen so many improvements.

“I went to the World Champs in Doha in February this year and I got a PB in both my 50 and 100 breaststroke and I’d only been (here for) two months (and it was) very early in the season as well. So it’s really … given me a lot of confidence.”

• Additional reporting by foxsports.com.au