Olympics: From Michael Phelps' Shadow Emerges Perhaps a Greater American Idol

It is not the most subtle of chants, particularly to the ears of communist China. There may even be some visiting Americans who find the repeated bursts of "USA! USA! USA!" and its accompanying celebratory air-punching faintly tiresome after a while. If so, they had better get used to it. The space-age Water Cube may resemble something from another galaxy but inside the bubble-effect aquatic center the cream of US swimming has still risen inexorably to the top.

Even before Michael Phelps completes his octopus-style quest for eight golds these have been a remarkable few days for 'the Yanks in the tank'. Jason Lezak's stirring final leg of the 4x100m freestyle was the moment of these Games so far and the entire team has done its best to keep Phelps company on the podium. Barely had Natalie Coughlan retained the Olympic backstoke title she won in Athens than Aaron Peirsol was doing the same in the men's event, creating a new world record into the bargain. The so-called 'female Phelps', Katie Hoff, has not quite lived up to that billing but a silver and a bronze is scarcely a failure. Anyone prepared to wear a pair of Ugg boots poolside in Beijing's challenging humidity, as Hoff has done, clearly has something about her.

Phelps aside, however, the search for the most heroic American participant in Beijing is already over. If Eric Shanteau did not receive the warmest reception afforded to any visiting competitor it can only have been because the majority of the crowd were unaware of his diagnosis with testicular cancer before the Games began. Shanteau was confronted with the sort of choice no young man should have to face: undergo immediate treatment or take the risk of delaying the operation in order to represent his country at the Olympics. The Texan opted for the latter course and was duly rewarded with an encouraging second place in his 200m breaststroke heat on Tuesday evening.

Shanteau, who grew up in Georgia and now lives in Austin, was diagnosed in June and doctors are confident they have caught the disease in its early stages. The grimmer news is that his father, Richard, was also diagnosed with lung cancer last year. The 24-year-old could easily be forgiven, in the circumstances, for concluding there are more important things in life than swimming. Instead, as he stood dripping in the passageway following his race, he made clear yet again that wallowing in self-pity is not his style. "You can't sit around thinking about it all day," he shrugged, having safely qualified seventh-fastest for the semi-finals.

Two things strike you instantly about Shanteau. The first is his tanned torso which, even by swimmers' standards, is almost impossibly triangular from his broad shoulders to his nipped-in waist. The second is his determination to retain a positive outlook regardless of life's vicissitudes. Frankly, most of us can no more relate to his physique than fly to Pluto but his attitude is genuinely inspiring. He is not expected to get a medal and his participation in Thursday morning's final is far from certain. Never mind. You don't discover the true measure of a man by studying a sheet of split-times. Before we get submerged by endless high fives and excessive all-American whooping we should pray that Eric - as well as his Dad - makes a full recovery.