Megan Havers revealed she was forced to keep her Olympic debut a secret as she attended her post-GCSEs school prom.

But after roaring into the archery third round in Paris, her mobile phone just won’t stop vibrating as the whole of Leicester throw their weight behind her.

Havers, 16, brilliantly swatted aside both Spaniard Elia Canales and home French favourite Amelie Cordeau to continue her Olympic fairytale at Invalides.

In front of a partisan Parisian crowd in the shadow of Napoleon’s tomb, the South Charnwood High School student held herself together in a heart-thumping shoot-off to edge past Cordeau and keep her dream debut hopes alive.

Havers admits she was instructed to remain tight-lipped around her France-bound exploits but hailed friends and family back home for fuelling her pursuit of success.

“When I went to prom no one knew I was going to the Olympics!” she laughed.

“Close family and friends knew about the Olympics, but not my school.

“But the support from home now, the school, the texts and people watching on the TV is just the most amazing thing that can ever happen to me.

“I have so many emotion right now – I want to cry, I want to yell, I want to hug people.

“It’s absolutely amazing.

“When I came here this morning I said I just want to make my first match a really hard match but now I’m into the next round.

“In a shoot-off it’s way more pressurised – I just talked to myself and that’s how I keep calm.

“I tell myself I’ve got this with the crowd, and with them all hyping Amelie up, I was my own hype-woman!”

Havers is over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

The East Midlands ace crashed out of the team event alongside Penny Healey and Bryony Pitman in earlier this week but promptly pivoted her attention to individual matters on Wednesday.

And she delivered when the pressure was on to emulate the exploits of men’s teammate Tom Hall, who beat compatriot and namesake Conor Hall, and book her spot in the last 16.

Havers had watched Tom triumph over Conor in another nerve-jangling shoot-off before she took to the range against Cordeau.

And she admits doing so inspired her own success, adding: “When Tom won his match it inspired me as well.

“It showed winning in a shoot-off was doable, we are able to do this so it did inspire me.”

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport.  To find out more visit:www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk