3x Olympian Nathan Adrian still aims for 2020 Tokyo Olympics despite testicular cancer diagnosis

Many years from now, we hope that Nathan Adrian will get to give another Cal commencement speech about him beating cancer and winning more Olympic medals. Today, Cal alumni and 3x USA “Calympian”, Nathan Adrian made a shocking but still upbeat announcement via social media about his recent testicular cancer diagnosis at age 30, at the prime of both his swimming career and life.

Below is his message from his Instagram post:

Life, like swimming the 100 free, can come at you hard and fast as you can’t always see who, or what, may be chasing you down. Recently, I went to the doctor as something didn’t seem quite right. At the very least, I still needed to get my flu shot so it couldn’t hurt. After a few tests and visits with a specialist, I unfortunately learned that I have Testicular Cancer. On the bright side, we caught it early, I have already started treatment and the prognosis is good. I will be back in the water in a few short weeks with my sights fully set on Tokyo! Along the way, I hope to share my journey in an effort to help break the stigma of discussing men’s health issues. I’ve realized that too often we tend to avoid these important topics, ignore the potential warning signs, and put off getting the medical help that we may need. As I told my family, I’ll be putting my public health degree to work a little sooner than I planned! But in all seriousness, I am keeping a positive attitude as cases such as mine are curable. I am extremely grateful for my family and friends, especially my wife, for their love and support. I am scheduled for surgery early next week and will provide an update soon. #menshealth#testicularcancer #standuptocancer

Adrian has caught cancer early and is rather upbeat about his chance of not just recovery but still making his 4th Olympics at the 2020 Tokyo games 1.5 years from now. Adrian is on pace to make 4x Olympic games given the results from this past summer at the Nationals. He has already started treatment and will be having surgery early next week (after which, he will provide more updates).

The public health major at Cal had an eventful 2018 in getting married (to a Stanford diver) and got the honor of delivering the winter commencement speech. You can listen to his message to the latest Cal graduating class in the video below. Adrian also plans to use this cancer diagnosis as a platform to bring more attention to men’s health.

Winner of 8 Olympic medals, including 5 Golds, Nathan Adrian has been one of the best sprinter in the world for the last decade. The highlight of his career thus far has got to be the individual Gold in 100m freestyle at the 2012 Beijing games.

Amongst his many accolades is being voted by CGB readers into the CGB Hall of Fame back in 2012. His game for anything attitude also allowed him to help the Mythbusters in testing a myth about swimming in syrup.

Still training in Berkeley as a part of the Cal pro group, Nathan Adrian has already gotten social media support from numerous Golden Bears.

Best of luck to Nathan Adrian in beating cancer and having a speedy recovery!

GO BEARS!