Michael Phelps is a halfway decent swimmer. He’s won a few awards for it–39 world records and 23 Olympic golds, to be exact. And for some strange reason, he’s going to race a great white shark.
The race is set up for (of course) Shark Week, which is a week of television that consists of sharks eating things, thrashing around, and looking as terrifying as the Discovery Channel can make them look.
The event is being called Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White. So far, the exact shark that’ll be competing hasn’t been named, but if it’s smart, it’s out there training hard. Not that it needs to, though. Michael Phelps caps out at about 6 miles per hour while a great white can easily hit speeds of up to 20 miles per hour.
“He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds,” reads Discovery’s description. “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 Vs Shark – The race is on!”
One could very easily argue that no one has attempted to race a shark not because it’s so monumental, but because it is stupid. But one could be wrong!
You can watch it (or not) on Sunday at 8 pm on the Discovery Channel.
