Beijing With his family watching the race and the world following his story, Eric Shanteau's Olympic dreams finally ended before he could make it to medal round.

Are you really going to ask whether this was worth it?

Johnny Crawford / jcrawford@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Eric Shanteau, out of Parkview High School, is on to the breaststroke semifinals after finishing second in Tuesday's quarterfinal heat. He finished sixth in his semifinal and 10th overall, missing a slot in the final.

"It's everything I wanted it to be and everything I thought it was going to be," the Lilburn native said after being eliminated in the semifinals of the 200-meter breaststroke. "I have no regrets about coming here and experiencing the Games. As far swimming goes, I accomplished what I came here to do, and that's swimming my best time. I did that."

He did more than that. Shanteau, whose time of 2:10.10 in the semifinals wasn't fast enough to make the final field of eight -- 2:09.97 was the lowest qualifier -- served as an inspiration for the entire swim team. He competed in the Olympics despite being diagnosed with testicular cancer the week before the U.S. trials.

When asked what his plans are now, he responded: "Take some time off, go back to Austin, then go to Atlanta and get this crap out of me."

"It's tough that I didn't get to be in the final and have a chance to medal. But my goal was to swim my best. Now I've got a much bigger battle to win, and I know I'm gonna win that one."

He said because he won't be focusing on swimming, "It's worse for the cancer. Now I can put all my energies toward that. I'm going to attack it the same way I did swimming."

This week has been a triumph on so many levels for Shanteau. Four years ago, he finished third in two events, the 200 and 400 individual medley, in the U.S. trials to barely miss going to Athens (only the top two advance).

At this year's trials in Omaha, he became a story for two reasons. First, he earned a spot on the team in the 200 breaststroke. Second, he disclosed afterward that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Third, he said he was going to Beijing anyway. Surgery could wait.

His parents were not surprised. Rick and Janet Shanteau agreed to answer a few printed questions through a USA Swimming spokesperson, their first public comment since Eric's disclosure.

"Absolutely not," they said when asked about their son's decision to race. "The goal of his all along was to make the Olympic team. His goal was to be an Olympian and swim at the Olympics if he was able. He took it one step at a time. He understood from day one if the tests were not showing better progress he would step aside. He wanted to be Olympian."

The Shanteaus and their other son, Ryan, who swam at Georgia Tech, all were in attendance at the "Water Cube." Rick was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer over a year ago and acknowledged that, "Eric has a better understanding of what I have been through in the last year."

Rick Shanteau said his cancer has slowed down significantly, after undergoing chemotherapy for one year. Doctors took him off chemo for a few months, then recently put him back on, though there is no evidence of tumors.

When asked if he had given his son any advice, he said: "When Eric found out he had cancer, he called me. He said, 'I need to talk to you about a health issue,' and there was a long pause. Then Eric said, 'I've been diagnosed with testicular cancer.' I said 'are you sure?' Eric said, 'yes, I've talked to several experts. There was another long pause. I told him you can look at it one of two ways. You have cancer or cancer has you."

If Shanteau has shown anything in Beijing, it's that the disease is not controlling him. He finished second in his preliminary heat with a time of 2:10.29, just off his personal best of 2:10.24. When asked if standing on the starting blocks at the Olympics was everything he expected, Shanteau said: "It is and it isn't, because you hype it up so much in your head. Then when you get out there, it's like, 'Wow, this is just another meet.' But at the same time, it's still a dream come true for me just to be able to race in the Games."