Swimming Australia power-couple Cody Simpson and Emma McKeon have appeared in a new tourism ad for Melbourne, Australia, site of the 2022 World Swimming Championships in short course meters starting next week.
McKeon, 28, is an 11-time Olympic medalist who will race the 50 and 100 freestyle, plus relays, at next week’s championships. Simpson, 25, is a global pop star-turned-Commonwealth Games medalist in swimming for Australia. He won’t compete at this week’s Short Course Worlds, even though he won the 100 IM at the Short Course Trials in August. Head coach Rohan Taylor at the time said that Simpson was very close to a spot on relays and in a few individual events, but ultimately he was not selected for the team.
The couple, who went public with their relationship in mid-2022, have been the subject of a lot of media attention as a high-profile crossover of two of the country’s favorite celebrity industries. That includes a bit of a drama during the Commonwealth Games when domestic media placed a hyper-critical eye on interactions between Simpson and another swimming star Kyle Chalmers, who used to date McKeon, at the Commonwealth Games. At the time, Chalmers said that he would stop doing media if the tenor of those comments didn’t change.
While the couple shied from the spotlight early, more recently they’ve become more comfortable in sharing, including Emma doing an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
The spot, an advertisement for the Melbourne visitors bureau is a continuation of that more public face for the pair, and shows their potential as a commercial entity as well, in addition to their success romantically and athletically. The two are shown touring popular attractions in Melbourne, and declaring it among their favorite cities in Australia.
Simpson was born in Gold Coast, Queensland, while McKeon hails from Wollongong in New South Wales. Both swimmers train at Griffith University in southeast Queensland.
The World Short Course Championships begin on Tuesday morning at the Melbourne Sports Centres.
Emma used to be at SPW but moved with Bohly when he moved to Griffith University on the gold coast like years ago. They’re both at Griffith now
They train at Griffith on the Gold Coast. Not at St Peter’s in Brisbane
I’ve only been to one Australian city and it was Melbourne and it ruled.
You must have had good weather . Lucky
east subs of sydney where its at bruh #roosters#