Singer Cody Simpson fails to make Australian Olympic swimming team

The Australian Olympic Committee has selected its 41-member swim team to represent them in the pool at the Paris Olympics, and singer Cody Simpson didn’t make the cut.

The 27-year-old international pop star put his music career on hold to return to the pool. He said on Saturday that he will return to the entertainment industry after he failed to make the Australian team.

“It’s bittersweet,” Simpson told reporters after the Olympic trials in Brisbane. “But I did what I could do – and that’s all you can do.”

Simpson finished fifth in the 100-meter butterfly at the trials. He swam at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England and collected a gold medal as a heat swimmer in Australia’s winning 400-meter freestyle relay team.

The singer was a promising junior swimmer before being discovered by an American music manager in 2009. He returned to the pool four years ago in pursuit to represent Australia at the biggest stage.

Ahead of the Olympic trials, he shared a post on social media reflecting on the journey.

“Seems like yesterday it was 2020, getting back in the water raw and wildly unfit having not swum or competed since I was a little boy. To look back on how this whole thing has progressed is beyond me,” he wrote. “Thanks to all who have supported me on my ride. I do all of this for the 12 year old kid in me. He’d be so stoked to know everything that’s happened. Guess he does ’cause he’s me! See you on the other side!”

His mother Angie and father Brad both swam for Australia, at the 1987 Pan-Pacific Games and 1994 Commonwealth Games, respectively.

The team representing Australia includes Cameron McEvoy and Bronte Campbell, who will compete at their fourth games. It also includes, Ariarne Titmus, who set a world record in the 200-meter freestyle on Wednesday at the Olympic trials.

Another swimmer to not make the cut was Cate Campbell. The four-time gold medalist failed in her bid to become the first Australian to swim at five Olympics.

“I can leave the pool with my head held really high,” Campbell said. “I came back to try something that no one has done before.”

The 32-year-old Campbell finished seventh in the women’s 50-meter freestyle on Saturday night in Brisbane. Only the top two place-getters — Shayna Jack and Meg Harris — will race the event at the Paris Games starting on July 26.