Michael Phelps will race against a great white in Shark Week event

By Tony Mangia

Without an Olympics this summer and no other human being to beat in the pool, it seems only logical that Michael Phelps takes on one of the fastest and, just for fun, one of the most fearsome swimmers on the earth, namely the great white shark.

In what could possibly be described as Shark Week jumping the shark, the Discovery Channel announced that 23 time Olympic gold medal winner  Phelps will race a great white shark as part of its popular summer series on July 23:

"They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. 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 V Shark – the race is on!"

According to ThoughtCo.com, sharks cruise around at around 5 mph, but great whites can reach top speeds of 25 mph — about "10 times faster than the typical human swimmer" when they are in attack mode.

One can only guess that Phelps is hoping against attack mode and won't be paddling for his life since the the Olympic chum, I mean champ, has only been clocked at a top speed of 6 mph.

But it's not like Phelps hasn't been training and researching his competition. Last week the 31-year-old went cage diving with some great whites hopefully to get a leg up and keep one out of his toothy rival's mouth:

I was able to do something that I had always wanted to do. Be in a cage and dive with great White sharks 🦈!! #bucketlist

A post shared by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) on Jun 10, 2017 at 9:52pm PDT

The network is hyping this broadcast as a once in a lifetime event and is hoping their viewing audience bites.

But just in case you don't remember other "monumental" Man vs Beast competitions like Nat Geo Wild's Man vs Cheetah back in 2014 when a couple of NFL players raced a spotted speedster in separate enclosures which ended up about as exciting as watching the big cats napping at the zoo.



And speaking of dozing, there were high hopes in 2014 for the Discovery Channel's Man Gets Eaten Alive By An Anaconda which ultimately turned out to be one of TV's most laughable and epic fails.

Either way, real sports fans know a race doesn't count if the players don't compete on the same field of play, bumping shoulder to shoulder,  leg to leg or, in this case, arm to fin.

I'm sure plenty of people will tune in to watch the colorfully named Phelps Vs. Shark: Great Gold Vs Great White. Just don't expect to see any red — especially in the accounting books.

Michael Phelps loses to Ryan Lochte in first comeback meet

Michael Phelps' first competitive dip into the pool after retiring might have been a second-place effort — but it still had all the splash that only the 22-time Olympic medalist can make.

Since Phelps entertained thoughts of defending his Olympic titles in Brazil, there was the matter of qualifying for the national championships in Southern California in August.

On Thursday night,  Phelps lost his first race to Ryan Lochte in the 100-meter butterfly final at the Arena Grand Prix.

It was Phelps’s first race in 628 days — since his butterfly leg in the gold-medal-winning 4x100 medley relay at the London Olympics in 2012 — and it attracted a sellout crowd of 1,200 Thursday at the Skyline Aquatic Center.

Lochte touched first in 51.93 seconds, second-fastest in the world this year. Phelps took second in 52.13 in his first meet since retiring after the London Games.

"I swam a final again," a smiling Phelps said later. "I said I wanted to be around 52.0 and I would be completely happy with that."

He is the three-time Olympic champion and current world record-holder in the event. His time tied for fourth-quickest in the world.

"It's one meet; it's one race," Phelps said. "It's a long way whether I decide to continue or not."

Phelps was faster in the final than he was while winning his preliminary heat with a time of 52.84.

Swimming before packed stands and lots of media, Lochte led at the turn and Phelps was second.

"Down there at the turn I kind of peeked over and I saw him and almost started smiling," Lochte said about his longtime friend and rival.

Phelps interjected, "Why? Because you were ahead?"

Next up for Phelps is the 50 freestyle on Friday, when he will swim the prelims doing the butterfly stroke for training.

Michael Phelps sparks comeback rumors after posting 'training' photo with long-time coach

Michael Phelps posted a photograph online of himself training with his long-time coach, fueling rumors he could be planning a comeback.

The image, which the Olympian uploaded to his Instagram account on Monday, shows him by the pool at the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center in Baltimore with his old swimming coach, Bob Bowman.

"One on one training session with @coach_bowman!!!" he wrote beneath the photograph.

The posting had fans flocking to the page to share their excitement at a possible comeback, demanding to know if the champion would be returning to the Olympic pool in Rio in 2016 in spite of his retirement last year.

But speaking to Swimming World, Bowman insisted that the photos were only for a photo shoot with one of Phelps' sponsors, believed to be Speedo, rather than a training session.

It is not the first time there have been rumors surrounding a possible return.

The 27-year-old Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history with 22 medals including 18 golds, hung up his swimming goggles immediately after The London Games last summer.

But last month, it was reported that Phelps is planning to return to swimming with the intention of competing in the Olympics in Rio in 2016.

"The greatest Olympian of all time isn't hanging up his swimsuit, after all," wrote reporter Peter Busch, who is the son of Frank Busch, director of the U.S. national swim team.

While Phelps did not outright deny the comeback, he downplayed the article.

"Why do I keep getting texts about coming back?" he tweeted. "Do [people] really believe everything they hear or read? There are [too] many [people] in the world that think they have a story."

Busch stood by his report. "Guess we'll see," he tweeted.

Either way, Phelps still looks likje he's in Olympic shape.

Michael Phelps and Adam Jones represent Baltimore after Ravens win

After the Baltimore Ravens convincing 28-13 beat-down of the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, two of Bmore's most well known athletes — Michael Phelps and Adam Jones — help celebrate with the Ravens players after the game.

WBAL sportscaster Pete Gilbert tweeted a photo of the grungy-looking Olympic swimmer and Baltimore Orioles centerfielder on the Gillette Stadium field with a funny description of the duo: "They look like they're goin for a latte and Portlandia marathon back at the hotel."

@simplyaj10 & @michael_phelps Bmore represent twitter.com/WBALPete/statu…

—Pete Gilbert (@WBALPete) January 21, 2013

Way to represent Bmore guys.

Michael Phelps back in dating pool sporting new look

It looks like Michael Phelps is doing just fine after his split from aspiring model Megan Rossee right before New Year's.

The 27-year-old Olympic swimmer was spotted by TMZ sporting a porn stache and hipster glasses while flirting with a number of girls at where else ... poolside.

Sources told TMZ that Phelps was hanging out Friday by a pool in the Bahamas, smoking cigars with his buds and hitting on a cute woman in a yellow shirt.

Looks like Phelps just scored another gold.

Olympic Village becomes one big yard sale

If you've ever wanted to sleep in the same bed as Hope Solo or dry off with the same chlorine-scented towel as Michael Phelps, here's your chance.

A website called 'Remains of the Game' has been launched to sell off the contents of the athletes village  and items from the Olympic Park.

Everything is for sale including mattresses, sheets and furniture from the athletes' bedrooms.  You could plop into your own lime-green Olympic bean bag chair wrapped in warm comforter with colorful Olympic symbols printed on it.

An umpire chair from the diving events was listed at £200 ($250) along with javelins, a 2012 parasol or a traffic wand for £3.5  (five bucks).

While Britain tries to recoup some of its costs for the 2012 Olympics by turning the aftermath into the world's biggest garage sale, the world turns its eyes to Rio in 2016.

I have my eye on one of those purple suits with the light-bulb derby that the volunteers wore at the closing ceremonies.  Kind of British with a little pimp.

Michael Phelps' mystery girlfriend is model Megan Rossee

The mystery woman Michael Phelps was spotted leaving with at a London party at 4 a.m. Sunday night has been revealed.  The blond-haired beauty is model Megan Rossee and the two have been quietly dating for five months according to the website Hollyscoop.

The Olympic swimmer was spotted leaving a London club after celebrating his 4x100 gold medal Sunday night with his teammates.  Phelps exited the party with a bunch of gold medals over his neck and the unidentified Rossee on his arm and jumped into a waiting SUV— leading to a lot of speculation about who she was.

Phelps is notoriously quiet about his love life but it appears Rossee couldn't keep it a secret any longer.  She went public with their relationship by posting photos of them on Instagram.  As usual,  he was still holding a bundle of medals.

The couple have reportedly been an item for over five months.

"She and Phelps started dating in January (2012) and things started to heat up just prior to the Olympics," a source told Hollyscoop.

The 5'9" former cocktail waitress— who describes herself on Facebook as a "model and actress"— has posted sexy photos of herself (with her friends) on Twitter and her nickname for the human dolphin is "Bear."

Phelps flew Rossee to London for the Olympics and now she can help lug the hardware back.

Michael Phelps leaves party with mystery woman and gold medals

Michael Phelps continued to collect gold even after his 2012 Olympics was over.  The swimmer was seen leaving a "boozy" London party with a golden-haired mystery woman after celebrating at the exclusive House of St. Barnabas-in-Soho, according to The New York Post.

Phelps celebrated his 4x100 meter relay victory with his teammates and he kept the party going by getting into a waiting SUV at around 4 a.m. with his blue-eyed beauty with the red, white and blue fingernails.

The couple reportedly smuggled a couple of bottles of Stella Artois into their ride while a triumphant Phelps showed off some of his gold medals for the cameras.

The leggy-woman was a little more camera-shy and hid from the photographers but, once inside the car, she smiled seductively.

Even though the 27-year old Phelps' Olympic career is over, the swimmer said he still woke up at his usual 6 a.m. training time.

"I only had three or four hours of sleep last night, then I woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep," he said.

It sounds like Phelps is having a hard time with retirement already and he still has to wait 38 more years for social security benefits.

"It's kinda weird. It's very strange, the first day of not having to swim and never having it again," he said.  "I'm not sure right now how I feel.  It's really confusing."

Phelps said he plans to spend his first day of retirement with his biggest fan, his mother Debbie, and would not be going near a pool except to watch the Olympics and world championships.

The competitive part of my career is over, but it doesn't mean my involvement with swimming is over," he said.  "I'm still going to be involved, but looking at it from the outside."

I'm sure there will be other mystery woman coming in and out of Phelps' new life of leisure. Wearing a bundle of gold medals around your neck can't hurt.