Australian musician turned athlete Cody Simpson has revealed he promised Ian Thorpe that he would continue his music career to secure the Aussie swim great’s mentorship.
Simpson, who for the past 10 years has been one of Australia’s greatest success stories in the entertainment industry, earlier this year fell just short of making it into the Australian Olympic team for the Tokyo Games.
The 24-year-old’s Tokyo dream wasn’t too far off. He made it into the men’s 100-metre butterfly final at the Australian Olympic swimming trials, only to finish eighth and miss selection.
But having spent over 10 years in the entertainment industry making music and working alongside the likes of Justin Bieber, Flo Rida and even appearing in Nickelodeon films, Simpson revealed he made a promise to Thorpe to continue making music while pursuing his Olympic dream.
“I’ve been mentored a fair bit by Ian Thorpe over the last year and he told me that he would stop mentoring me as an athlete if I stopped playing music,” Simpson told Nine’s Today.
“[Music] is just such an amazing release and it’s so important to have something out of the pool that I can use to take my mind off the grind that goes on in here.
“Music for me can be so cathartic and relaxing. I use it as that, and I write songs all the time.
“I just released a couple of tracks, a couple of weeks ago as a little warm-up into what’s to come. I just finished a full-length album, which will be my first in six years.
“I’m looking forward to coming back with that.”
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Despite missing out on the Tokyo Games, Simpson said that experience alone will benefit him as he focuses on featuring in Paris in 2024.
“I didn’t expect to make the Tokyo team but I wanted to use it as fuel to inspire me towards 2024. It’s done just that,” Simpson said.
“I’m back in working hard.”
Simpson claims the goal now is to do everything he can to get that “one per cent” better every day so he can post a quicker time next time around.
“Making the final at the previous Olympic swim trials was a goal of mine that I was able to accomplish and I surprised myself and a lot of people,” he added.
“Now it’s all about getting that one, two per cent quicker.
“That for me is about making that little one per cent gain every day and hopefully that compounds into something great.”
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