Aussie Pop Star Cody Simpson Qualifies For Olympic Swim Trials

You might remember Cody Simpson as the teenage heartthrob musician who was once described as Australia's answer to Justin Bieber.

But now the young bloke is doing something slightly different with his life and it involves being away from the bright lights of the paparazzi cameras.

It appears the Aussie has decided to trade in the recording studio for a swimming pool.

Incredibly, the 23-year-old has revealed he has successfully qualified for the Olympic Games trials after months of training in secret - an impressive five long months of rigorous training to be exact.

Gold Coast native Simpson will now compete in the Australian Olympic trials for the 100-metre butterfly stroke in a bid to be selected to go Tokyo next year.

He took to social media to share the exciting news.

"I just qualified for my first Olympic trials," he said via Instagram. "I'd love to share this personal milestone and let you in on my current journey as an athlete that I've kept relatively low key until now."

He said he had to give up his swimming career when he became a 13-year-old Australian champion after going viral on social media for his singing skills.

Simpson said the opportunity to become a musician was too good to give up, however the desire to be back in the pool has persisted.

He added: "I have had the chance to experience so much as a musician from touring in arenas around the world, releasing top 10 albums, playing a leading man on Broadway, publishing a work of poetry, travelling with and speaking at the United Nations on environmental and oceanic matters and much more.

PA

"Now almost exactly 10 years later, here I am once more. For years I had been fuelled by the silent fire in my stomach of returning to my first love, the sport of swimming, with the idea that 2020 would be my year to have a crack at training again.

"After only five months back in the water training with my incredible coach [Brett Hawke], I was able to take out a win and secure a spot at next years Australian Olympic trials in the 100 fly.

"It is my greatest ambition to expand the limit and perceived notion of what's possible for a man to achieve in a single lifetime, and I'm here to tell you can do absolutely anything if you are willing to work for it. I'm looking forward to seeing where this all takes me on the long road ahead!"

It's looking like 2021 is shaping up to be a big year for Simpson.

The Australian Olympic swim trials in Adelaide will take place in June, and for those swimmers lucky and talented enough to be selected, they won't have too much time to rest with the Tokyo Olympic Games set to begin just one month later in July.

Topics: SPORT, Entertainment, Celebrity, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie