Australian swimmer and pop singer Cody Simpson has been nominated for GQ Australia’s Sportsman of the Year award. The award returns in 2022 after a two-year hiatus driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The award is part of GQ’s Men of the Year program, which honor contributors from a wide range of realms relative to the GQ lifestyle brand, including culture, design, philanthropy, politics, and sports. Winners are revealed at the organization’s GQ Men of the Year gala in November.
This year, the Sportsman of the Year category is open to a public vote.
2022 was Simpson’s big breakthrough in the pool. He just-missed the World Championship team when Kyle Chalmers opted to swim the butterfly races there (after previously indicating he wasn’t planning to swim the meet), but Simpson did make the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games – an event of greater cultural significance in Australia anyay.
There, he won a gold medal in the men’s 400 free relay and a silver medal in the men’s 400 medley relay. Simpson also finished 14th individually in the 50 fly and 5th individually in the 100 fly.
Simpson is most famous, globally, as a musician. He was already an accomplished age group swimmer when in 2010, at 13 years old, he released his debut album (which included a feature by American rapper Flo Rida). He would go on to release 4 studio albums and 21 singles, scoring three gold singles and an album, Surfers Paradise, that reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 music chart.
But 2022 became the year where his return to swimming turned from an interesting subplot to a center-stage story, as he proved that he is a legitimate elite swimmer who can compete on the world stage.
So while Simpson was not the most-awarded Australian swimmer in 2022, a fact that will surely ruffle some feathers for this nomination, GQ is a culture and lifestyle magazine. Simpson’s unique cross-categorical success is what makes the nomination make sense for this specific brand.
Full List of Nominees:
- Lance Franklin – Australian Rules Football
- Cameron Smith – Golf
- Cody Simpson, Swimming
- Harry Garside – Boxing
- Nicho Hynes – Rugby
- Pat Cummins – Cricket
- Scotty James – Snowboard
- Tai Tuivasa – MMA
Haha
Gotta grade on a curve
Pat Cummins should easily win this.
I dunno. Smith won the Open.
As athletes and sports fans we like to believe and support something called “meritocracy”, the same is not always valuable outside of the sports world.
These awards are complete bull crap, I appreciate the attention and dedication CS brings to the table but definitely not the best athlete anywhere, probably not even in his own lane.
Feeling bad for Chalmers
eh its not like the award actually means anything, besides if it did I think ZSC would be the better candidate anyways
Why feeling bad for Chalmers? He shouldn’t be Australian male swimmer of the year anyway. ZSC won World titles, CG titles and set a individual WR.
In other news, Kyle Chalmers and Madi Wilson we’re just announced as male and female athlete of the year for South Australia.
Despite the comments, I don’t think Kyle really cares about a GQ award.
Madi wilson scooped throughout 2022 six Gold medals and two World Records across the FINA World Championships and Commonwealth Games. Super impressive
looks more like a fridge now than a pop star
So what do you think the USA sprinters look like?
Well deserved, Chalmers can go on and cry about it