Olympic Talk Highlights The Week That Was

The United States’ push to get the Olympics back, a new look for USA Swimming and shocking health news from a former national team member were just three of the major swimming-related headlines of the past week. We’re bringing you the top five headlines for The Week That Was. This “Week That Was” is sponsored by Swimoutlet.com, the Web’s Most Popular Swim Shop.

The Week That was is supported by AgonSwim.com

5. Jeff Julian battling lung cancer.

Proving that cancer can strike anyone at any time, Rose Bowl Aquatics head coach Jeff Julian revealed in a Facebook post that he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Julian was a USA Swimming national team member and outstanding swimmer for the University of Southern California. There’s no indication that Julian will be stepping away from coaching, and we wish him the best on the road to remission.

4. CeraVe Invitational showcases swimming’s future

For more than 20 years, Berkeley Aquatic club has hosted a long course meet in early January, and some of the sport’s most popular names in history have raced there, including Michael Phelps. This year, we witnessed the future of the sport as we produced the live stream of the meet. Easop Lee, Sierra Schmidt and Cole Buese were already well-known nationally, and they had their hands full with up-and-comers Andrew Abruzzo, Max Miranda and Anina Lund. The racing, as t is every year, was top notch, and we have all the competition on our landing page!

3. FINA announces 2015 World Cup schedule

France returns to the World Cup lineup later this year, with the announcement that Chartres will be the host of the second of eight meets in the series. The circuit starts three days after the conclusion of the long course world championships, and the first stop in Moscow will likely be full of world championship gold medalists. Michael Phelps isn’t going to worlds, but it has been reported that he will swim in the Chartres meet. We’re likely to also see reigning World Cup winners Katinka Hosszu and Chad Le Clos try to earn more money and get crucial racing experience in the months before the Olympics.

2. USA Swimming rebrands championship meets

USA Swimming is no stranger to changing its image every few years, and last week the organization released new logos for its national championships, junior national championships and sectional meets. The logo for the Arena Grand Prix got a change, and the name also changed to the Arena Pro Swim Series, likely in an effort to differentiate it from the car racing Grand Prix. The new futures meet, which will feature athletes too fast for sectionals but at the bottom of the heap at junior, also got a snappy logo.

1. U.S. Olympic Committee picks Boston as 2024 Summer Olympic candidate city

We’re still more than two years away from knowing who will host the 2024 Summer Olympics, but the USOC will need that much time to create an impressive presentation for the International Olympic Committee. On Thursday, the USOC picked Boston as the official candidate city for the United States. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., were also in the running. Boston has never hosted an Olympic before, but will likely have emotion going for it. The tragedy at last year’s Boston Marathon will likely still be resonating throughout the world when the IOC votes in two years. So far, France and Germany have made it known that they want the 2024 Olympics, and there’s talk of South Africa wanting in the mix.