In some of the weirder news you will hear today, the most successful Olympian of all time will be pitted against a Great White Shark for our entertainment.
Michael Phelps, who has 23 Olympic swimming gold medals, will race against the ocean’s most notorious predator as part of Discovery Channel’s ‘Shark Week’, the BBC Sport reports.
Phelps, 31, will briefly come out of retirement in what is billed as ‘Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs Great White,’ – but he stands to lose big despite his impressive and very well decorated career.
Even the fastest human swimmers can only reach a top speed of six miles per hour in the water, while a great white can reach a terrifying 25mph.
It is unclear if Phelps and the shark will compete in the same tank, but you’d be hoping not for his sake or he would at least be praying that the great white would have been well-fed.
Tooni Mahto from the Australian Marine Conservation Society told BBC Radio 5 live:
It is a forgone conclusion as to who is going to come out on top. We can all be fairly certain it’s not going to be Michael Phelps versus a great white shark in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
I’m assuming it’s going to be looking at the human body in water compared to a creature that’s evolved over millions of years and is perfectly adapted to its marine environment.
Phelps currently holds the individual world record in the 100m and 200m butterfly, but he hasn’t released what stroke he will be using in his battle against the shark.
And be honest it probably won’t make much of a difference, but it won’t make it any less fun to watch. Bring on Shark Week!
