Photo: Dave J Hogan (Getty).
Michael Phelps cemented himself as the greatest Olympian of all time with his efforts at the 2016 games, capping off his career with a record 23 gold medals. No one has ever done better than him when it comes to earning the hardware.
In the water, Phelps is the dominant figure that can’t be outdone by anyone. It seems only reasonable that it’s going to take a man-eating fish to see if he can be beat.
Michael Phelps To Race Great White Shark
As part of their annual Shark Week, the Discovery Channel is pitting Phelps in a race against an actual great white shark. According to a press release sent out on Thursday, Phelps will jump in the water against the shark made famous in JAWS because TV needs intriguing storylines and man versus fish is something y’all are just going to eat up.
Photo: FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT/AFP (Getty).
From the press release:
They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark – the race is on!
Let’s all try and calm down for a second and realize the Discovery Channel isn’t just going to throw an Olympic icon into the water with a vicious shark and tell him, “Good luck, Mike!” They’re not that stupid, so don’t be that gullible. What we can likely expect is a comparison of the time it takes Phelps to swim a certain distance to the same done by a shark. That’s what we’re speculating, anyway.
h/t Uproxx
