Cate Campbell’s swimming career is over after she finished seventh in the 50m freestyle final at the Australian Olympic Swimming Trials on Saturday night.
Shayna Jack won in 23.99 seconds ahead of Meg Harris (24.26), who recorded her first individual swim at the Olympic Games.
Emma McKeon finished third with a time of 24.32, meaning she will not be able to defend her Olympic gold in the 50m and 100m freestyle as the next generation of sprinters emerges.
There were emotional scenes in the Brisbane Aquatic Centre swimming pool as Campbell waved goodbye to the crowd and was hugged by all the swimmers in lane seven.
The result means the 32-year-old failed in her attempt to become the first Australian swimmer to compete in five Olympic Games, but her time of 24.76 seconds was still a world-class performance.
Campbell told reporters: “The fact that two girls qualified for the Olympics – which is no small feat – one of them for her first individual berth in Meg Harris – that they stopped their celebrations and came here is one of the most incredible moments and something I will remember for the rest of my life.”
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. I wanted this fairytale ending more than anything else.”
“But I can now sit back and look back on a wonderful career. I can leave the sport with my head held high.
“I came back to try something no one had ever done before, and my God, I really tried.”
Sister Bronte Campbell finished fifth in 24.46 seconds and had already qualified for the 4×100-meter freestyle relay on Friday with her fourth place in the 100-meter freestyle.
Elsewhere on Saturday night, Brendon Smith, Will Petric, Ella Ramsay and Jenna Forrester all swam under the qualifying time in the 400m individual medley.
Lani Pallister and Moesha Johnson also qualified for the women’s 1500m freestyle.
Australia has announced a 41-man swimming team for the Paris Olympic Games following the conclusion of the qualifying competitions in Brisbane on Saturday evening.
The team consists of 22 Olympic debutants, a trio of three-time Olympians and two four-time Olympians.
Kyle Chalmers, Emma McKeon and Brianna Throssell are taking part in the Olympic Games for the third time.
Bronte Campbell and Cameron McEvoy join the exclusive club of four-time Olympic swimmers.
Ten of the selected swimmers train under Dean Boxall at the St. Peters Western Club. This means that the super coach has a quarter of the entire Australian Olympic swimming team at his disposal.
Australian Olympic Swimming Team: Iona Anderson, Ben Armbruster, Jaclyn Barclay, Bronte Campbell, Jack Cartwright, Kyle Chalmers, Abbey Connor, Isaac Cooper, Lizzie Dekkers, Jenna Forrester, Max Giuliani, Meg Harris, Zac Incerti, Shayna Jack, Moesha Johnson, Se-Bom Lee, Cameron McEvoy, Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown, Thomas Neill, Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister, Alex Perkins, Jamie Perkins, William Petric, Ella Ramsay, Sam Short, Brendon Smith, Flynn Southam, Jenna Strauch, Zac Stubblety-Cook, Kai Taylor, Matt Temple, Brianna Throssell, Ariarne Titmus, Sam Williamson, Brad Woodward, Olivia Wunsch, Elijah Winnington, William Yang, Joshua Yong
Open water swimmers: Chelsea Gubecka, Moesha Johnson, Kyle Lee, Nick Sloman
Australian Paralympic Swimming Team for Paris 2024: Jesse Aungles, Emily Beecroft, Ricky Betar, Lewis Bishop, Rowan Crothers, Katja Dedekind, Tom Gallagher, Jasmine Greenwood, Brenden Hall, Benjamin Hance, Timothy Hodge, Jack Ireland, Ella Jones, Jenna Jones, Ahmed Kelly, Alexa Leary, Paige Leonhardt, Maddie McTernan, Jake Michel, Chloe Osborn, Grant Patterson, Lakeisha Patterson, Col Pearse, Alex Saffy, Callum Simpson, Keira Stephens, Ruby Storm, Holly Warn, Rachael Watson, Poppy Wilson.
Cody Simpson fails and his dream bursts
Cody Simpson’s attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris narrowly failed.
In the men’s 100m butterfly final, all eyes were on the pop star, and he was still in contention in the final lap.
You could have thrown a blanket over the field, and Simpson ended up finishing fifth with 51.79 – just under his personal best of 51.67 and 0.01 slower than his heat swim.
National record holder Matt Temple won in 51.15 ahead of Ben Armbruster, who had already qualified in the 50 m freestyle.
Shaun Champion (51.40) finished third and Jesse Coleman (51.51) finished fourth.
Simpson finished first in the 100m freestyle B final with a time of 48.67 seconds, which was enough for a shared sixth place overall.
It would have given the selection committee reason to think about selecting him as a 4×100-meter freestyle relay swimmer, but it doesn’t count for much because he didn’t do so in the A final.
Simpson, a talented junior swimmer, put his successful music career on hold to return to the pool.
He exceeded all expectations by reaching the final of the 100m butterfly at the Tokyo Olympic Qualifying Events and being named in the Australian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In Birmingham he finished fifth in the 100 m butterfly and also won gold and silver as a relay swimmer.
But Australia’s strength in the 100-meter butterfly has increased, and Olympic qualification was ultimately too much for the 27-year-old.
“It’s bittersweet. I did what I could,” a philosophical Simpson told reporters.
“I have come a lot further in the last four years than I perhaps expected.
“(I) started from scratch and tried to see how far I could get in half or a third of the time that everyone else was training … just to live up to the kid in me who gave up everything to pursue something else and who has had an incredible journey.
“(I) wanted to be there for the last four years and do really well.
“To have the chance to swim for my country, to be selected for the Australian teams, to win international medals, to be part of the men’s relay team and to swim for Australia is something that not many swimmers get to achieve or experience. I was privileged to do that.
“This is something I will never forget and that no one can take away from me. I am really proud of how far I have come to quench the fire inside me, compete again and push myself in training.”