Nathan Adrian, a five-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. swim team, announced Thursday on social media he is battling testicular cancer.
Adrian has competed in each of the past three Olympic games and said he intends to undergo treatment so he can return to the water in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
“Recently, I went to the doctor as something didn’t seem quite right,” Adrian wrote in a caption on an Instagram photo of him in a hospital gown with his wife Hallie and family. “After a few tests and visits with a specialist, I unfortunately learned that I have Testicular Cancer.”
The disease was caught early, and Adrian, who has already started treatments, said the prognosis is good.
“I will be back in the water in a few short weeks with my sights fully set on Tokyo!” Adrian wrote.
Adrian received his first gold medal in Beijing in 2008 as part of a 4-by-100-meter freestyle team that that featured Michael Phelps. Adrian did not swim in the final but received a medal for his work in the record-setting preliminary heats that helped the U.S. reach the final.
In 2012 in London, Adrian earned his only solo gold medal, winning the 100-meter freestyle by 0.01 seconds over Australia’s James Magnussen. Adrian was the first American to win the 100 free since 1988. He also earned gold as part of the 4-by-100 medley relay team and silver in the 4-by-100 freestyle relay.
He won gold in the both the medley and freestyle relays in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and earned solo bronze medals in the 50-meter freestyle and the 100 free.
Adrian said he intends to use his platform to talk about men’s health issues and the stigma surrounding them.
“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,” Adrian wrote. “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.”
He added that he has a surgery scheduled for early next week and would provide an update soon.