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Michael Phelps loses by 2 seconds to simulated shark in 'Shark Week'

Posted at 8:01 AM, Jul 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-24 08:01:37-04

Michael Phelps has finally met his match in the water: a "great white shark."

The Olympic champion swimmer was bested Sunday night in the Discovery Channel's Shark Week special "Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White."

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But Phelps didn't swim with a real shark. He competed in the ocean against a computer-simulated fish based on data on the swimming speed of sharks.

Phelps was outfitted with a wetsuit and a monofin to mimic a shark's powerful tail. He finished the 100-meter race in 38 seconds, two seconds slower than the simulated shark.

Phelps tweeted Sunday that he'd like a rematch, but in warmer water.

The widely-publicized race garnered lots of attention on social media and was a trending topic on Twitter.

Unfortunately for the Discovery Channel, most of the viewer feedback from the show was that of frustration since many thought he was going to race a real shark.

Michael Phelps didn't actually race a great white shark