2021 OLYMPICS: Nathan Adrian won't be going to Tokyo but 3 AAPI swimmers make the team

Torri Huske has a chance to win mulitple medas at the Olympics.

The United States is sending one of its youngest swimming teams to the Tokyo Olympics later this month. The three Asian Americans on the U.S. team are all under 20.

As the youthful swimmers will be heading to the Olympics for the first time, one of the veteran swimmers, popular Nathan Adrian, 32, who has been to four Olympics, won't be making the trip, failing to qualify in his events, the 100m and 50m freestyle. This will be the first time since 2004 that Adrian will be absent from the U.S. Olympic team.

Torri Huske, 18, missed her high school graduation to compete at trials this June. But it was worth it with a chance to win multiple medals later this month.

The Chinese American Arlington, Virginia resident and Yorktown High School senior had just won the finals of the women’s 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials with a time of 55.66 seconds, breaking her own American record set a day earlier.

She will also be competing in the 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyle races at the Olympic trials this week, as well as the 200-meter individual medley, according to the Washington Post.

The Stanford-bound Huske is one of several first-time Olympians who benefited from the postponed Olympic Games. A pair of Las Vegas-based teens will also be heading to Tokyo.

Erica Sullivan will swim the 1,500 meter freestyle at the Olympics.

Japanese American Erica Sullivan made her mark in the 1,500 freestyle at trials, staying with Katie Ledecky for the first half of the race, then touching the wall in second place just over 10 seconds behind Ledecky — and beating her open water idols, Haley Anderson and Ashley Twichell, who finished the 1,500 in fourth and fifth, respectively.

To achieve her Olympic dream, Sullivan, 20, had to overcome anxiety, panic attacks, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in the past few years. From Las Vegas, Nevada, Sullivan postponed college in 2018 and will attend the University of Texas after the Tokyo Games.

At age 16, Bella Sims will be one of the youngest members of the U.S. Swim Team.

Fresh from her sophomore year in high school, Filipino American Bella Sims made her first Olympic team as a prelim swimmer in the 4x200 freestyle relay. The 16-year-old only started training and competitive racing five years ago. Before that, she was only taking swim lessons.

Like teammate Erica Sullivan, Sims trains with the Sandpipers of Nevada. In the 200 freestyle, Sims dropped 2.5 seconds off her personal best, finishing fifth and scoring a relay prelim spot, meaning she will compete in the preliminaries but give up her spot if the relay team makes it to the finals.

Nathan Adrian's comeback after contracting testicular cancer two and one-half years ago would have been a compelling story for media and the slew of products that he endorses. He returned to training in 2019. The Bremerton, Washington resident failed to make the finals in his primary event, the 100m freestyle. He needed to finish in the top eight to make the finals. His time in the prelims was good enough for 13th.

In the 50m freestyle finals, the Chinese American swimmer just missed making the team by finishing 3rd. The top two spots made the team.

“If I was to commit to anything right now, it would really, genuinely mean nothing,” said Adrian, who already has eight medals to his credit. The new father was disappointed but not broken up about not making the Olympic team. “What I will commit to doing is taking a good break, letting my body, letting my mind just recover.”

After failing to qualify, Adrian tweeted the following:

Olympic hero Nathan Adrian fighting testicular cancer

NATHAN ADRIAN WEBSITE

Olympic champion Nathan Adrian.

OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL winner Nathan Adrian revealed Thursday (Jan. 24) that he had been diagnosed with tssticular cancer.

Adrian, who has won five gold medals in swimming over three Olympic Games, told about  his diagnosis via Twitter and Instagram.

The 30-year old swimmer said he made his cancer public so he could share his health journey with the public “to help break the stigma of discussing men’s health issues.”

"Life, like swimming the 100 free, can come at you hard and fast as you can’t always see who, or what, may be chasing you down. Recently, I went to the doctor as something didn’t seem quite right," he wrote on his website.

"After a few tests and visits with a specialist, I unfortunately learned that I have Testicular Cancer. On the bright side, we caught it early, I have already started treatment and the prognosis is good. I will be back in the water in a few short weeks with my sights fully set on Tokyo! ... I am scheduled for surgery early next week and will provide an update soon. Thanks #menshealth#testicularcancer #standuptocancer," he wrote.

Adrian earned his degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, where he helped Cal win several national championships.

The Chinese American, who was born in Hong Kong, won his first Gold Medal in 2008 as a member of the 4x100 freestyle relay team led by legendary Michael Phelps. He repeated his feat in 2012 and 2016, where he also won the gold in the 100-meter freestyle.

Adrian, a Bay Area resident, confirmed the cancer diagnosis won't stop him for training for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Tokyo.

However, he is uncertain about whether or not he will compete in the 2019 World Championships this summer in South Korea.

“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,” he wrote in his Instagram posting. “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.”

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Nathan Adrian is visited by his mother Cecilia Adrian in the hospital.

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