Welcome to Paradise: My Journey. Cody Simpson

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      ‘Selfies’ with good mates.

      SWIMMING DREAMS

      I started taking swimming lessons when I was six years old at the Baildons’ Superfish Swim School. I was immediately very comfortable in the water. I took to it right away. Andrew Baildon, who was an Olympic swimmer himself, saw some potential in me and was a great mentor for me from an early age.

      It was only natural for me to want to take it to the next level, and when I was eight years old I signed up under elite coach Denis Cotterell at the Miami Swim Club. Denis had coached my mum and Andrew and many other Olympians and world record holders, so it meant a lot to me to be able to train under him.

      When I was young, the swimming team was a lot of fun and a good way to set goals and work towards something.

      I think my love of goals and hard work comes from my parents. They always told me it was important to work hard and try your best. And they knew what they were talking about. My mum and dad swam competitively themselves, and they both made it pretty far in the national competitive circuit. It’s remarkable to me that my mum and dad competed at such an elite level! My mum swam in the Pan Pacific Games and was ranked seventh in the world, and my dad was an Australian champion. They both were number one overall for certain events in Australia – Mum in the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke, and Dad in the 200 metres breaststroke – but they both got injured and didn’t make it to the Olympics to represent Australia.

      They don’t dwell on what might have been, but I think there was an extra gleam in their eye when I started to pursue the sport. They were clearly thrilled that I was passionate about swimming and reached a competitive level. Their sense of discipline must have sunk in at some point, because even at just nine years old I really put my heart into improving at swimming.

      I practised three to four times a week. My races would be just 25 metres, but at the time it all felt very important – and, of course, fun. Two years later, I swam in my first race and won it. It was a big moment for me. I was so proud of myself, and my parents ran over to me after the race to celebrate! I felt the energy of the cheers during the race and the excitement of winning for days afterwards. I still have the ribbon from that first race. From then on, I was hooked!

      We had swimming meets every other weekend in the summer, and almost as frequently in the winter as well. As I became more competitive, it became a year-round sport for me. I loved the thrill of racing from an early age. At the meets I also loved messing about with my friends and eating the good food they had at the pool café. My closest friends were always people I met through swimming. I still keep in touch with quite a few of them and they often come over to Los Angeles to stay and hang out with me.

      I was a late bloomer and I felt fairly small standing beside some of the kids who had early growth spurts. I think it just made me that much more determined. I’ve always been very competitive, but I’m never СКАЧАТЬ