Pop star turned swimmer Cody Simpson has Olympic dream dashed after missing out on Paris 2024 spot

Cody Simpson put his singing career on hold to try and make it to the Olympics but has had his dream squashed by less than half of a second.

The former pop star will not make it to Paris 2024 after failing to secure his spot in the Australian team's qualifying rounds in Brisbane on Saturday. 

Simpson, 27, came in fifth in the men's 100 metre butterfly final behind Matt Temple who won in 51.15 seconds, Ben Armbruster's 51.23 seconds, Shaun Champion's 51.40 seconds and Jesse Coleman who finished in 51.51 seconds.

Despite his agonising loss, falling short of Mr Coleman by just 0.28 seconds, Simpson said the experience was 'absolutely unbelievable'. 

'I am proud of myself and I knew it was going to be a tight one tonight,' he said.

Simpson added that he would not dwell on the loss since he gave it his all.

'I knew I was going to have to pull something out of myself but I was very close to my best swim,' he said.

'All you can do is all you can do which is a saying I quite like because what else can you do?

'It has been absolutely unbelievable. I gave everything I had this week and sometimes that is all you can do.'

Simpson said the four years he spent travelling around the world competing for Australia in other tournaments in the build up to the Olympics were 'amazing' and a 'privilege'.