sideshow alley attraction – Michmutters
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Commonwealth Games 2022: Cody Simpson’s mum spills on ‘love triangle’ with Emma McKeon, Kyle Chalmers

Cody Simpson’s mother believes the Australian swimmer is more than equipped to deal with media scrutiny as his personal life continues to be put under the spotlight.

The pop icon picked up a gold medal in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the Commonwealth Games earlier this week, swimming in the heats before missing out on a spot in the final.

But Simpson’s relationship with Australian champion Emma McKeon has dominated the headlines, with the power couple embroiled in a reported “love triangle” with Olympic gold medalist Kyle Chalmers.

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During an interview on Channel 7’s SunriseAngie Simpson claimed that the relentless media attention won’t bother her son, who previously dated American singer Miley Cyrus.

“I think he has been lucky because he has had so much history with press and media before, performing on stage for thousands of people,” she said on Wednesday morning AEST.

“I think the pressures of what he has dealt with in camp and at the Commonwealth Games has been pretty easy for him.

“It has given him an advantage to deal with a lot of those pressures and not let that stuff bother him.”

Angie also confessed she was initially skeptical about her son’s return to competitive swimming.

“I feel like a bad mum… I just didn’t think he could transition from so many years of that to then go to such isolation,” she explained.

“But he proved me wrong and once he convinced me he wanted to do it I was 100 per cent behind him.”

Simpson began his swimming comeback journey in 2020 after 10 years away from the pool as something of a sideshow alley attraction — but the Queenslander has quickly proven he’s box-office on his swimming credentials alone.

On Wednesday, Simpson finished fifth in the men’s 100m butterfly final, with Dolphins teammate Matt Temple winning a silver medal.

The 25-year-old’s time of 52.06 seconds was the second-quickest of his career, but still outside his personal best of 51.79 seconds.

“I want to inspire young people to know that they can do whatever it is they want to do, even if they feel like it’s too late or they’re too old to pick something up, because it’s never too late,” Simpson told Channel 7 after the race.

“I think with experience comes confidence. And I’m still gathering the experience, so still gaining confidence.

“I am happy to be here. And I think, win or lose today, I’m going to go back to the drawing board and make sure I come back stronger. I’m already way ahead where I thought I would be at this stage.”

Earlier this week, Chalmers slammed the media for focusing on “clickbait” rather than the Dolphins’ impressive results in Birmingham, declaring he’s not sure he wants to continue in the sport if it means dealing with this kind of attention.

The 24-year-old — who has won three gold medals this week — has been forced to repeatedly deny there is any tension between himself, Simpson and McKeon, who was romantically linked to Chalmers last year.

After his golden swim in the 100m freestyle on Tuesday, Chalmers put his finger to his lips to silence the critics, revealing he’d planned the celebration to send a “powerful message” as he affirmed his desire not to let the media “win” .

“It’s all just false news that is actually just crap. It’s honestly just a load of s**t that is not true,” he said.

“I do nothing but be as positive as I possibly can. I support him on the team but, again, people just want clickbait on the article.

“It’s unfortunate that I can’t do anything right at this point in time.

“I think it’s fantastic that he’s here… it’s fantastic for our sport, it brings new viewers in. What he has achieved in two years of swimming is incredible.”

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Commonwealth Games 2022: Cody Simpson butterfly result, star sends powerful message

Cody Simpson has gone from the music charts to off the charts in his swimming career.

The 25-year-old has ticked off everything he wanted to in his Commonwealth Games campaign and the biggest tick came on Wednesday morning in his pet event — the 100m butterfly — where he lined up alongside Aussie national champion Matt Temple.

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In a thrilling final, Temple picked up the silver medal in a swim where the top three swimmers all finished within 0.16 seconds of each other.

Temple shared the silver with England’s James Guy after they were both pipped in the reach to the wall by the strong-finishing Joshua Liendo-Edwards of Canada.

Simpson, meanwhile, was slow out the blocks and it looked like being a disaster for him when he made the turn after the first 50m before he powered home in the second 50m to finish fifth — an extraordinary result.

His time of 52.06 seconds was the second-quickest of his career, but it was still outside his personal best of 51.79 seconds.

The pop star started his swimming comeback journey just two years ago after 10 years away from the pool and he did it as something of a sideshow alley attraction. Now he’s proven he is box-office on his swimming credentials alone.

Aussie swimming legend Cate Campbell told Simpson in his post-race interview he was changing the game as a mature-age converter to the sport.

“It has been a meteoric rise, a phenomenal effort and you are really re-writing what people can do in this sport,” she said.

“We are usually seeing people coming in as teenagers and you are told, if you are entering as a teenager, you’re too late.”

Simpson responded: “I want to inspire young people to know that they can do whatever it is they want to do, even if they feel like it’s too late or they’re too old to pick something up, because it’s never too late,” I told Channel 7 after the race.

He said he is well ahead of where he thought he would be in his dream of chasing a medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

“I think with experience comes confidence. And I’m still gathering the experience, so still gaining confidence,” he said.

“I am happy to be here. And I think, win or lose today, I’m going to go back to the drawing board and make sure I come back stronger. I’m already way ahead where I thought I would be at this stage.”

The Queenslander’s journey from music artist to swimming star has captivated Australia this year since he qualified for the Commonwealth Games at the Australian Swimming Championships in May.

His swimming career changed forever earlier this week when he picked up a gold medal in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, where he swam in the heats before missing out on a spot in the final.

His dream of representing Australia had already come true this campaign when he competed in the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly.

But it has always been the 100m butterfly that he has had his eye on.

He was able to move through to Wednesday’s final with the fifth-quickest overall time, swimming at 52.16, well outside the personal best time of 51.79 he set at the Australian National Championships in May.

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