Michael Phelps vs shark: In a one of its kind event, the world witnessed a race between a man and a great white shark. In a much anticipated face off, Olympian Michael Phelps competed with the most feared creature in a 100 mtr race. However, the event that took place after the aggressive promotion and building up of great excitement among the people, it failed to draw applause, instead, the Olympian received criticism. Michael Phelps is a master in the pool, the world’s greatest swimmer and the race was hyped up to garner maximum attention against the ocean’s worst predator on July 23. But on the day, the legendary Olympian was seen racing against a computerised shark, a computer-generated simulation, a fact that was cleverly avoided in all the promotions and build-up to the show – Phelps vs Shark.

In the show, the 32-year-old swimmer swam a 100m stretch of warm Bahamas water in 38.1 seconds against a Great White Shark swimming the same course, reports The Indian Express. Despite swimming with all his effort and experience, Phelps lost the race by two seconds. The Great White Shark was shown moving at a speed of 25mph. However, Phelps took it sportingly and asked for a rematch. On his official Twitter account, he posted after the match, “Rematch? Next time..warmer water. #SW30 @Discovery @SharkWeek”.

But Tweeple did not take it lightly and lashed out at Phelps. “Call me crazy but I thought they were gonna put Phelps up against a real shark not a simulation. I feel robbed” posted a user. Another tweet read: “Don’t say Phelps is racing a shark if you’re not going to put him against an actual shark #PhelpsVsShark #SharkWeek” and so on.

Meanwhile, even though social media was flooded with criticism, some also came out in support.

“Say what you want, #PhelpsVsShark is bringing America together. No matter who you believe in, we all believe in Michael Phelps” said a netizen.