23-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps recently lauded Shaquille O’Neal for his impressive swimming skills. This commendation came to light during a conference held 14 years after an iconic contest between the two sports legends. The source of this revelation can be traced back to a Twitter post.
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Back in 2009, the sports world witnessed an extraordinary event when Shaquille O’Neal dared to challenge the aquatic titan in a swimming contest. Despite what it seems, the matchup between Phelps and Shaq was surprising, to say the least.
Michael Phelps on Shaquille O’Neal and swimming
When asked about the likelihood of NBA players, particularly the likes of LeBron James, successfully transitioning to the world of competitive swimming, Phelps offered a unique perspective. He refrained from making generalizations, emphasizing instead that with dedication, any athlete could excel in a new discipline.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know. It’s a completely different sport. I’ll say Shaq came a long way after working with him for one week. It makes me believe that once they put something into it, their body awareness is there. I think, over time, they could get good. But, I don’t know how good it will be. Like, we’re literally talking about hundredths of a second.”
To illustrate this point, he cited the rapid progress of Shaquille O’Neal in the realm of swimming, noting that the “Big Diesel” demonstrated notable improvement within just a week of intensive practice.
However, Phelps was also quick to note that he didn’t know the upper limit for basketball stars transitioning to swimming. He mentioned this was because of how competitive the elite level is, battling it out with differences in the hundredths of seconds.
When Shaq raced Phelps
In a showdown that defied all expectations, O’Neal came perilously close to besting Michael Phelps in the swimming competition. They faced each other across 3 races.
In the first race, Shaq won against Phelps in a surprising turn. Race Two was a close call, but Phelps clinched it by a mere 2 seconds. It’s important to note, however, that even though 2 seconds may not feel significant, in competitive swimming, it’s often a massive difference in speed.
In the final race, Phelps secured the victory, ultimately winning the competition. Despite the loss in 2009, Shaq surely has a lot to look forward to in terms of swimming. After all, he received praise from the greatest swimmer the Earth has ever seen.
