U.S. swimmer Eric Shanteau has testicular cancer

Last Updated: Friday, July 11, 2008 | 12:33 PM ET

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U.S. swimmer Eric Shanteau will continue to pursue his Olympic dream despite having testicular cancer. (Mark Baker/Associated Press)

American swimmer Eric Shanteau, who qualified for the Beijing Games in the 200-metre breaststroke, has revealed he is battling testicular cancer.

Shanteau, 24, said he learned of the diagnosis just a week before the recent U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, and that he was cleared to compete by doctors.

"I was sort of like, 'This isn't real. There's no way this is happening to me right now,'" Shanteau said in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press. "You're trying to get ready for the Olympics and you just get this huge bomb dropped on you."

The native of Lilburn, Ga., went on to make the team in the 200-metre breaststroke with a second-place finish, ahead of heavy favourite and former world-record holder Bredan Hansen.

Shanteau said he has been advised to have surgery now, which would keep him out of the water for at least two weeks. But he's elected to pursue his dream and continue to prepare for the Summer Games.

"If I didn't make the team, the decision would have been easy: Go home and have the surgery," Shanteau said. "I made the team, so I had a hard decision. But, by no means am I being stupid about this."

He will be closely monitored in the weeks building up to Beijing and has vowed to drop out of the Olympics if he receives any indication the cancer is spreading.

Abnormality detected

Shanteau was persuaded by his girlfriend to see a doctor after he detected an abnormality before the trials.

Doctors initially told him it was likely a benign cyst, but an ultrasound prompted a followup to a specialist, who gave him the diagnosis just one week before the trials June 29 to July 6.

"It almost numbed me," he said. "I'll remember that day for the rest of my life. Talk about a life-changing experience. That's as big a one as you can have, I think. You're changed for the rest of your life. The few people I've talked to who've gone through this — and they're all much, much older than I am — say I'll know that even more in 10 years."

Doctors have told Shanteau that his cancer is treatable and had not spread. That made for an easier decision about the Summer Games after he clinched a berth by surpassing a fading Hansen on the last lap of the 200-metre race.

"A lot of people kept asking me after that race, 'What was going on? We thought we would get a little more reaction out of you,"' he said. "It kind of put damper on things."

Shanteau had kept quiet about his diagnosis until recently, in the hopes that he can inspire others with the disease.

He has already heard from the camp of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer.

"Lance's agent told my coaches that I'm the closest thing to Lance Armstrong that there is on the planet right now," Shanteau said. "If I can have a fraction of the impact that he's had, just a tiny little bit, then I think what I'm going through will be good."