Featured Image Credit: ABC
Topics: Basketball, NBA, Olympics, Sport
Ella Scott
Fans are all saying the same thing after a clip of Shaquille O’Neal beating Michael Phelps in a swimming event resurfaces across social media.
Serious question: Is there anything 52-year-old Shaq can’t do?
Not only is the former basketball player a four-time NBA champion but he’s also an Olympic gold medalist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer.
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Before eventually retiring from professional sport in 2011, the father-of-six also tried his hand at reality TV.
Between 2009 and 2010, he fronted the competitive ABC series, Shaq Vs. The show ran for two seasons and saw the athlete - who was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time - attempting to beat other sportspeople at their own game.
In the first outing of Shaq Vs, he took on Ben Roethlisberger and beach volleyball duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh before facing former professional boxer Oscar De La Hoya and baseball veteran Albert Pujols.
The season finale saw Shaq heading to Mangione Aquatic Center at Loyola University Maryland where he faced Michael Phelps in a series of swimming races.
Nicknamed The Baltimore Bullet, Phelps, 39, is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time.
Despite possessing 23 gold medals, the swimmer was surprisingly beaten by Shaq in the first race.
The first event was a freestyle race which saw Big Aristotle swimming 25 yards while his opponent had to cover 50 years with a five-second head start.
The pair set off from opposite sides of the pool to ensure a finish would be on the same side.
Unbelievably, Shaq finished the race with a time of 23.14 seconds while Phelps completed the event in 24.03 seconds.
Thus, the 15-time NBA All-Star was awarded the point and he went into the second round as top dog.
Ahead of the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday (July 26), clips of Shaq and Phelps’ iconic race have resurfaced across social media.
“That’s made him special,” claimed one X user. “Insane coordination for a man his size.”
A second typed: “Wow that was an impressive performance by Shaq!!”
“Shaq a generational athlete,” praised another user.
And someone else penned: “Mr Phelps is a cheat code. Shaq barely won.”
Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last as Diesel finished second in the relay race before losing by 0.17 seconds in the third round.
Despite being beaten in the competition overall, it’s not very often that someone can say they beat Phelps in a swimming race.
But a loss is a loss and Shaq’s forfeit was that he had to wear a bright pink swim cap and engage in a synchronised swimming lesson.
Following the episode, which was watched by 4.34 million viewers, Shaq Vs. was commissioned for the second season.
In the second round of games, the New Jersey-born star played golf with Charles Barkley, performed in a dance-off against Justin Bieber and challenged Joey Chestnut to a hot dog eating competition.
At the end of the two seasons, Shaq’s record stood at two wins, 12 losses and a single tie.