Cody Simpson’s Olympic dreams crushed as he finishes last in swimming trials final

Cody Simpson’s dream of representing Australia at the Olympics has been crushed after he came last in the final of the swimming trials.

However, he gave it a darn good go. 

The 24-year-old singer stunned pundits when he qualified for the finals of the 100m butterfly event at the Australian Olympic Swimming Trials in Adelaide, having finished third in his heat with a time of 52.84 seconds, the sixth quickest overall time.

However, when it came to the final, he failed to achieve the 51.7 seconds time needed to qualify for the team, touching the wall after 52.94 seconds.

Matthew Temple (50.45) and David Morgan (51.67) qualified for Tokyo.

But Cody wasn’t too heartbroken, as his real aim all along has been to qualify to represent Australia at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Taking to Instagram, he wrote: ‘What an experience racing at my first Australian Olympic Trials. To make a final was our goal this year and with less than a year of training we did just that. I’ve come so much further than I expected to this year and to be racing the best in the country already is a privilege. 

‘Thanks to @hawkebr and my training partner Matt Targett for pushing me everyday throughout COVID and to my new coach Michael Bohl for the wisdom and swift preparation! I’m so psyched to get back to training. See you in 3 years..’

Cody’s sister Alli commented: ‘Proud is an understatement’, while his coach Brett Hawke wrote: ‘You went 54 in December after 6 months training and you told me you’d be 52 at trials. Here you are 6 months later hitting your goals. Speaking things into existence. 

‘You are an example of excellence to every swimmer worldwide. You are not a singer who can swim anymore, but a swimmer who can sing.’

Cody wound down after the trials with his girlfriend, model Marloes Stevens, who shared a video of them dancing in a bar.

While Cody is probably best known for his music career, releasing three albums since 2012, he was actually a swimmer in his youth, having been a junior state champion.

However, he gave up the sport to pursue a music career, before recommitting to swimming in 2020. 

Alongside swimming stars Kyle Chalmers, Bronte Campbell and Ian Thorpe, Cody is one of the stars of the Amazon Prime documentary series Head Above Water, which explores the athletes’ journeys in the run-up to the Games.

Speaking to The Project, Thorpe backed Cody’s abilities, saying: ‘I’ve seen Cody’s level of dedication to this. Cody in the backyard pool doing laps on what we call a bungee cord or a tether, by himself just getting better and better each week.

‘I knew that he was serious about it, I also know what he was able to do when he was a young swimmer and so knew that there was a prospect that he’d be able to get back in and swim well.’

As well as his music and swimming careers, Cody is also known for hitting headlines with his love life.

The Australian previously dated Gigi Hadid for two years between 2013 and 2015, before hooking up with Miley Cyrus in 2019.

The pair packed on the PDA on social media throughout their relationship before splitting after 10 months together.

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