Simpson back in swim of things
Progress is stunning
CODY Simpson – the Australian singer and ex-boyfriend of US celebrity Miley Cyrus – has done more than enough since returning to swimming to prove he’s the real deal.
Simpson, 24, smashed his personal best time to book a place in the final of the 100m butterfly at the Australian trials, clocking 52.84 seconds.
That was just outside the qualifying time for next month’s Tokyo Olympics but there’s no shame in that.
Just making the final at the Olympics trials is an astonishing feat in itself.
“He’s going pretty well. The aim of the game was to try to swim some PBS (personal best times) here,” Simpson’s coach Michael Bohl said ahead of the 100m butterfly final in Adelaide on Thursday night.
“He’s been good, he’s like a little kid in a candy shop. I think he’s excited to be back.
“His last competitive meeting, when he was maybe 13 or 14 years of age, was a long time ago so he’s sort of revelling in it, watching some of the superstars here competing, and trying to learn and watch what they’re doing.
“He’s very excited with the opportunity to get in and swim at this level.”
One of Australia’s most experienced and successful
coaches, Bohl isn’t in the business of talking up swimmers.
On the contrary, he prefers to keep things low-key so isn’t making any bold predictions about how far Simpson will go.
But he does admit he’s been impressed with his improvement since he returned home from the US in April to contest the national trials.
“He had that two weeks in quarantine, which was difficult,” Bohl said.
“We didn’t try to flog him too much. Over the course of the last couple of months, it would have been a mistake to throw him into a big hole so we just tried to keep the theme pretty light.”
A childhood star in the sport before he turned to music and moved to the US, Simpson has always played down his chances of making it to Tokyo for next month’s Olympics, saying his goal was just to get on the team for Paris in 2024.
But he has improved faster than anyone expected.