“I’ve come a lot further in the last four years than perhaps I could have bargained for.”
Some celebrities can do it all! In addition to Oscars or Grammys lining their shelves, a few talented stars also have first place trophies and ribbons. It turns out that there are quite a few celebs who are also skillful athletes — and actually almost made it to the Olympics!
After training for years, they gave it their best shot and unfortunately just fell a little short. While they didn’t make it to the Olympic podium, it’s still a major accomplishment to make it as far as they did.
Find out which celebrities almost made it to the Olympics…
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1. Cody Simpson
Cody Simpson had a successful career as a musician but in 2019 he decided to shift his focus to one of his childhood passions — swimming. After almost a decade out of the pool, he dived back in and dedicated all of his time to becoming an athlete. He trained with Olympians like Brett Hawke and was mentored by Michael Phelps. After just a few years of training, he made it to the Australian Swimming Trials for the Tokyo Olympics.
While he didn’t make it that year, he continued his training in Australia and medaled at the Australian Swimming Championships. He later even took the podium at international competitions. Then in 2024, he made it to the 2024 Australian Swimming Trials in 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly. While he made some of his personal best times, it was just short of making the Olympic team.
“I did what I could do, and that’s all you can do. I’ve come a lot further in the last four years than perhaps I could have bargained for,” Cody shared. “Starting from zero and trying to see how far I could get in half or a third of the time that everybody else has been training, just to do right by that kid in me that gave it up to go and pursue something else, which I had an incredible journey.”
2. Bella Hadid
Before becoming an international supermodel, Bella Hadid was an equestrian who had dreams of making it to the Olympics. The model had been riding since the age of three and in 2015, she announced her intentions of competing in the 2016 Olympics. Unfortunately, due to her battle with Lyme disease, she had to give up on her dreams.
“Bella had to give up her lifelong dream of having a professional riding career and a shot at the Olympics due to her severe symptoms and inability to ride,” her mother Yolanda shared. “This was the biggest heartbreak of her life and an extremely sensitive subject for her. She is resilient and focused on a new direction – she’s made a name for herself in the modeling industry while she struggles with symptoms of chronic Lyme every day.”
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3. Jason Statham
Jason Statham was just a kid when he discovered his passion for diving. Around age 11, he saw a man high diving while on vacation and when he returned home, he joined the local diving club. Within a year, he had made it to the British team and he spent the next 10 years competing around Britain and even internationally. Eventually, he made it to the Olympic trials for the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul and the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the team.
“It’s a bit of a sore point that I never got to the Olympics,” Jason later shared. “The divers now are just terrific. I started too late. It probably wasn’t my thing. I should have done a different sport.”
4. Vera Wang
When fashion designer Vera Wang was just eight-years-old, she began figure skating. She eventually became an accomplished pairs skater and even competed in the 1968 U.S. National Championships. While she had her sights set on the Olympics that year in Grenoble, she and her partner James Stuart did not qualify.
“I was completely dedicated to it,” she told the South China Morning Post’s Post Magazine. “I was devastated when I did not qualify for the Olympic team.”
While Vera didn’t make it to the Olympics, her fashion designs did make it to the rink. Olympians Nancy Kerriga, Michelle Kwan, Evan Lysacek and Nathan Chen have all worn her designs at the games.
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5. Mario Lopez
Mario Lopez once had dreams of making it to the Olympic wrestling team. As a teenager, he competed as a wrestler and even made it to the state level. In 1991, he wrestled as a senior one-class athlete and came in the top 10 during the California Interscholastic Federation state tournament. Just as his acting career was taking off, he told People that he’d like to go to the Olympics — but unfortunately it didn’t pan out.
6. Kendall Jenner
Growing up, Kendall Jenner was an avid equestrian, telling Harper’s Bazaar that as a little girl, she “ate, breathed, and slept horses.” Eventually, Kendall had to put horseback riding on the backburner in order to pursue modeling full time but she says that she seriously wanted to go to the Olympics.
“Honestly, I think I’d probably be in the Olympics or going to the Olympics for horseback riding. That was always my dream,” she shared during a Keeping Up with the Kardashians reunion special.
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7. Salma Hayek
As a little girl, Salma Hayek was an incredibly talented gymnast and trainers thought she had what it took to make it to the Olympics. Looking back, Salma says that when she was a kid, she was invited to attend a boarding school for gymnasts where she would train multiple hours of the day. Ultimately, her dad turned it down because he didn’t want her to live far away.
“I was drafted for the Olympics. I was nine years old and I was living in my little town…I self-taught. And then my father took me, because I begged, to Mexico City for the summer. My vacation was [to] put me in a gym 24/7 and all I want to do is gymnastics. He found the best gym and I was drafted from that,” she shared on Sunday TODAY.
Selma continued, “My father decided for me that I wasn’t going to have a childhood and, of course, that they were going to take his child away at nine and go live in another city. He thought it was horrific and it took me a long time to forgive him. I really resented that decision. I didn’t want a childhood. I just wanted to do gymnastics.”
8. Geena Davis
In the late ’90s, Geena Davis found herself completely obsessed with archery after watching the sport during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. While she had played sports in movies, she didn’t have any athletic ventures she was passionate about in real life, so she decided to give archery a shot. She was soon practicing five hours a day, six days a week and eventually ended up winning national and international tournaments.
Ahead of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Geena took part in the qualifiers with 300 other athletes. Unfortunately, her 24th place finish meant she fell just short of making the team.
“I take everything too far,” she joked in an interview with ET. “I’m at the Olympic trials in my forties for something I just took up! It was the most out-of-body experience I’ve ever had. It was fabulous. I will never forget about it.”
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9. Bruce Dern
Growing up, Bruce Dern was an avid runner. He started running at summer camp as a kid and even briefly pursued speed skating. Then in high school, his track and field talents really began to shine. He ended up transferring to another school with a better athletics program and after graduating, he continued running in college. While he regrets not pursuing long distance running, he still hoped to attend the 1956 Olympic Trials as a sprinter.
“It wasn’t a huge dream because I wasn’t that good. I think I won all but one half mile my freshman year at Penn. But I was six or seven seconds away from [Lon Spurrier’s] world record. I wasn’t stupid. I didn’t dream unrealistically. My dream was to be good enough to make the Olympic Trials, and I wasn’t that year, and I didn’t improve,” Bruce told Runner’s World.
