The costly blunder that cruelled Cody Simpson’s Olympics dream

Former pop star Cody Simpson delivered the swim of his life — producing a time that was good enough to secure him a position on the Australian Olympic team for the Paris Games. But it doesn’t count.

Cody Simpson preparing for the heats of the men's 100 Metre freestyle. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

With the television cameras turned off and the crowd slowly dispersing, Cody Simpson delivered the swim of his life.

It was a swim that was good enough to secure him a position on the Australian Olympic team for the Paris Games.

But it doesn’t count.

Having missed the 100m freestyle final by less than two tenths of a second, the 27-year-old had to instead line up for the B final.

He won the race. Not just that, his time was faster than he’d ever swum.

If he did it in the A final an hour earlier alongside Kyle Chalmers, he would be on the Paris Olympic team as his 48.67 seconds time would’ve placed him sixth.

Simpson’s heat swim where he ranked ninth and missed the top eight final had cost him Olympic selection.

“I should have done that this morning. That was great, just a good lesson for the future I suppose, making sure I’m ready to go in the morning,” Simpson said.

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It was a case of what could have been for Cody Simpson. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“Obviously you’re always going to swim faster at night but it’s super promising. My coach will be giving me a slap up the side of his cheek.

“That was kind of the goal going into tonight, see if you can post a time that would have done something good in that A final because I didn’t get the chance so bittersweet for sure but I’m quite happy with that because I was hoping to get a 48 mid swim here and got it in.”

The positive is that Simpson’s personal best time bodes well for his final race - the 100m butterfly on Saturday.

Don’t count Simpson out of the Australian team for the Paris Olympics just yet.

The former pop star’s Olympic dream isn’t over just yet but they are hanging by a thread.

To qualify for Paris, Simpson needs to finish in the top two in Saturday’s 100m butterfly and make the insanely difficult qualifying time of 51.17 - which is well under his career best time of 51.67.

He faces an uphill task but said he has trained to give himself the best shot.

He swam fast enough on Thursday night to make the team when there was no pressure on his shoulders, can he execute now when it matters most? Everything is riding on the butterfly.

He knows his form is strong, but mentally can he move on from knowing he should be on the plane to Paris already?

Cody Simpson faces an uphill battle to qualify for the Olympics. Picture: Getty Images

What-if moments don’t come much tougher to swallow than that.

Can he adjust his mindset enough to forget the missed opportunity of the freestyle and turn it into the confidence of knowing his 0.32s personal best improvement can translate into the half second gains required to win butterfly selection.

Swimming is a sport where courtesy of the long program athletes often get second chances. Simpson will not get a third.

It is all on the line now, but Simpson is confident in the knowledge he has done the work. The clock doesn’t lie. Now it’s all about execution under pressure.

“I had a really good last six months of training, just absolutely flogging myself so ready to hopefully get some good results this week,” he said.

“Swimming’s tricky. You can train for a long time for really marginal gains, microscopic sometimes.

“I had a really great shift the first two years and just sort of been banging at the brick wall trying to get that next level.

“And the faster you get, the harder it is to keep getting faster so it’s just going to be about trying to see if I can put something together on the night.”

The butterfly is Simpson’s final curtain call. What he really needs is an encore.

Originally published as The costly blunder that cruelled Cody Simpson’s Olympics dream