Cody Simpson’s classy sign off from Australia swimming after falling agonisingly short of living his Olympic dream

Pop star turned swimmer Cody Simpson has bid a stylish farewell to the Australian swimming team after falling painfully short of his Olympic dream.

Simpson, a global teen pop star who quit his music career to return to the pool, missed out on selection in the Australian team for the upcoming Paris Olympics.

The 27-year-old finished fifth in the 100m butterfly final at the Australian selection trials in Brisbane, missing out on selection by less than half a second.

“It’s bittersweet,” Simpson said afterward.

Simpson (pictured) put his singing career on hold to try to make it to the Olympics, but his dream was crushed by less than half a second

“But I did what I could do, and that’s all you can do.”

In a stylish Instagram post on Monday, Simpson said goodbye to swimming.

“All you can do is do everything you can to take what you’ve been given as far as you can,” he wrote.

“You owe yourself the honor of cultivating your talents with as much enthusiasm and intensity as possible.

‘The privilege to become what you can become. I have left nothing to the unknown for the past four years and I can now rest knowing that every day I have put my pedal to the floor and dealt with every other little detail to take this as far as possible and it is certainly a very gone away.

“I made sure I was a gangster in my training, meticulous in my preparation and fearless in my participation every step of the way. I’m grateful for a huge run in the short time I’ve been a professional athlete and I wouldn’t trade a moment.

“I promise that I will never stop trying to do extraordinary things with my life. Shoot for the moon. Land among the stars. My shot forever put me in a constellation known as that elusive club, the Australian Swim Team. Thanks swimming.”

Simpson signed off the Instagram post as “Australian Dolphin #838.”

Simpson (pictured with partner Emma McKeon) was a promising junior swimmer, winning two gold medals at the 2009 Queensland State Championships at the age of 12

Simpson said he did his best to make the Olympic team and left nothing to the unknown

Simpson’s mother Angie and father Brad both swam for Australia at the 1987 Pan-Pacific Games and 1994 Commonwealth Games respectively.

Simpson was a promising junior swimmer, winning two gold medals at the 2009 Queensland state championships at the age of 12.

That year, the singer-guitarist posted some songs on YouTube and was discovered by an American music manager – his family moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and fame followed.

But four years ago, Simpson couldn’t ignore the itch to return to competitive swimming.

“Just to please the kid in me… I wanted to come here for the last four years and just really give it a good try,” he said.

“To have the opportunity to swim for my country and make Australian teams and medal internationally… is something that not many swimmers can achieve or experience.

“And I’ve had the privilege of doing that and that’s something I’ll never forget and that no one can ever take away from me.”