Cody Simpson's real motivation revealed after Olympics bombshell
Aussie pop star and former Miley Cyrus flame Cody Simpson stunned the sporting world last week when he announced that he'd qualified for Australia's Olympic swim trials.
The 23-year-old Aussie decided to have another crack at his "first love" of swimming after ditching his sporting career to chase an opportunity in music at a young age.
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Incredibly, not only has he given it a crack, but he's also given himself a shot at competing in the Tokyo Games next year, after smashing the qualifying benchmark of 56.87 seconds, with a time of 54.9s in the 100m butterfly.
Simpson's incredible feat will give him an opportunity to book a place at the Tokyo Games during next year's Australian Olympic trials.
However, the multi-talented Aussie's swim coach Brett Hawke has revealed that Simpson's motivation goes far beyond what would be an unlikely Olympic Games berth next year.
Sky is the limit for Simpson
“Our goal is to be as fast as we can possibly be this year and just keep building on that,” Hawke told said on Afternoon Sport with former Australian cricketer Shane Lee and sports presenter Tim Gilbert.
“He’s looking at this as a four-year plan, he’s committed to four years.
“He had a conversation with (Olympic legend) Michael Phelps who told him, ‘You can’t do anything in under four years, you’ve got to commit to that’ so he said, ‘OK, I’ll agree to that, I’ll give it four years’.
“He’s looking from the age of 23-27 here and that’s prime athletic age for anybody.
“I think that’s the best chance he’ll have, to make an Olympic team four years from now.
“We’re not putting any limits on where we’re going with this, but at the same time we’re not telling people, ‘This is the goal’.
“We want to get better every day and see where it takes us.”
Hawke and Simpson have been training together for five months but when the 23-year-old first revealed his swimming ambition, the coach admits he had his doubts.
However, he says the Aussie star soon proved him wrong and insists the sky is the limit for the youngster with a burning ambition.
“He’s 23-years-old, if you look at his life story and the things that he’s done in his life, you would think that most 30-year-olds would be really happy with it,” Hawke said.
“Certainly you would think it would take a 40 or 45-year-old to get the stuff done that’s he’s done in 23 years.
“When he puts his mind to something he just gets it done.
“When it comes to pushing limits, he’s used to that in his life — he’s done some remarkable things.”
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