Most people should’ve heard of Michael Phelps. After all, he is one of the most talented athletes of all time, as shown by the fact that he has won 23 Olympic gold medals as well as another 5 Olympic medals of other kinds. For comparison, these victories make Phelps not just the record-holder for the most Olympic gold medals but also the record-holder for the most Olympic medals. Period. As a result, it is safe to say that Phelps is pretty fast in the water.
What Is Phelps Vs. Shark?
As a result, Phelps vs. Shark will be pitting Phelps against a great white shark in a competition of speed. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t mean that the two competitors will be swimming side by side in their respective lanes, but rather that each will swim a specified length so that the people involved in the Shark Week special can compare their speeds.
People who are familiar with great white sharks should have a vague notion that such a competition is nonsensical on initial inspection. After all, Phelps is an incredible swimmer, but he is an incredible swimmer for a human, meaning that he is much less well-adapted for life in the sea than one of that ecosystem’s apex predators. This can be seen in how a great white shark can achieve a top speed of up to 25 miles per hour, whereas Phelps has managed somewhere around 6 miles per hour at his absolute best.
As a result, it should come as no surprise to learn that there are some other factors that should be considered as well. For example, it is important to note that great white sharks are capable of such speeds in no more than short bursts, meaning that their speed over a 100m course would be nowhere near that number. Furthermore, Phelps will be wearing a monofin that will enable him to increase his speed to somewhere around 12 miles per hour by generating more torque with his feet. As a result, while the great white shark still holds a huge advantage, it is nowhere what it would be based on an initial inspection.
Watch Or Not?
With that said, it remains questionable whether this Shark Week special will be worth watching or not. After all, while comparing the performances of humans and animals is a tried-and-true formula, getting a great white shark to race seems like the sort of thing that would end in silliness when the animal deviates from the intended course because it doesn’t understand what the humans want it to do. Furthermore, while the name of the special sounds sensationalistic, the understandable requirements of the setup means that it will be anything but. As a result, while Phelps vs. Shark could be worth watching, its basic premise sounds rather weak.
Still, sharks are rather interesting animals. Furthermore, while Shark Week might be a lot more entertainment than education by this point in time, there can be no doubt about the fact that Discovery Channel knows what sells and what doesn’t sell to its intended viewers. As a result, there is no harm for people to tune in to Phelps vs. Shark and the rest of Shark Week so long as they don’t go in expecting more than what they will actually be getting.
