Two-time Olympian Eric Shanteau joined the Inside With Brett Hawke podcast to talk about his career where he fought cancer months after swimming at the 2008 Olympic Games. Shanteau detailed the early beginnings of his career in Georgia, where he swam for Swim Atlanta and coach Chris Davis, calling him the most influential coach in his career. The episode will be released on Feb. 1.
Shanteau talked about his ability to compartmentalize the problems in his life so he could swim so well in his career (9:00) and how he attributed that to his long career in the sport.
Eric Shanteau swam four years at Auburn from 2002 – 2006 that never lost an NCAA title or dual meet (9:50) with George Bovell, Kurt Cady and Doug Van Wie. He went over whether there is a “secret sauce” in order to be a title winning team (14:50) and reminisced on the 2006 NCAA title over Arizona when Auburn won the meet on depth, and which NCAA title was the most challenging (17:00).
Shanteau swam for hall of fame coach David Marsh while at Auburn (19:00) and explained what he did well to win four titles in four years. He also went over how the Auburn team handled all those egos in the same pool to keep a championship team together (24:00), detailing his relationship with Bovell, who won the 200 IM NCAA titles in 2003 and 2004 and the Olympic bronze medal in 2004. Shanteau voiced his frustration over not being able to compete in Athens, despite the fact his times would have placed him in the 200 and 400 IM finals in contention for a medal (28:00). Shanteau was out-touched by Ryan Lochte in the final of the 200 IM at the 2004 Trials after being in second place at the 150 mark.
Eric Shanteau made the decision to move to Austin, Texas in late 2006 to train with Eddie Reese in a change of environment leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games (33:00) and shifted his training focus from the IMs to the breaststrokes. He made the World Championships team in the 200 breaststroke at the 2006 Nationals due to two major changes he made to his stroke that summer.
Shanteau had been diagnosed with testicular cancer two weeks before the 2008 Olympic Trials (40:20), but credits his ability to compartmentalize his thoughts and feelings in making the 2008 Olympic team in the 200 breaststroke with that monkey on his back. He detailed why that year meant so much to him in making the team, erasing the painful memories of getting third in 2004. Shanteau went over the symptoms of his cancer and talked about the lead-up to the 2008 Trials and how doctors told him he would probably not be able to compete in Beijing had he made the team. He explained his mental approach to Trials with the cancer lingering over his head.
After Trials, Shanteau went back to Austin (45:00) to visit doctors and see where his overall health was to see if he could return to training camp in the lead-up to Beijing. Ultimately, Shanteau made the difficult decision to compete in Beijing with his cancer showing no signs of advancing to a more serious stage, where he placed 10th in the semi-finals of the 200 breaststroke. He detailed his chemotherapy treatment after the Games where he was able to be announced cancer free on Monday, September 15, 2008.
Eric Shanteau won an Olympic gold medal in the 4×100 medley relay by swimming on the prelims team in 2012. He also swam on the world record setting medley relay at the 2009 Worlds that still stands today, and also won an individual silver in the 200 breaststroke and a bronze in the 200 IM at the 2009 Worlds.