Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant athletes to ever play a professional sport in the world. Standing at 7’0, Shaq was a physical specimen during his prime who could take control of a basketball game on both ends of the court. At his best, O’Neal could not be stopped by his teammates.
He won four championships during his career in the NBA and showed what can be achieved with a combination of elite size and strength. Of course, Shaq had his weaknesses, especially when it comes to his ability to shoot the ball. But he is still remembered as one of the most dominant players to ever play the game of basketball. But how would Shaq fare in the sport of swimming?
We got that answer when Shaq started his show ‘Shaq vs.’ when he took on athletes of different sports in their own arena. One of the people he faced for the sport was none other than Michael Phelps. Phelps and O’Neal took each other on in a total of three races. Each race would have one handicap on Michael Phelps because he was an Olympic Gold Medal-winning athlete. But nonetheless, the races were very competitive.
Surprisingly, Shaq won the first race between the two athletes. However, the second and third races were where Phelps got his own back. Despite going against arguably the greatest swimmer of all time, Shaq held his own against the swimming legend. Shaq lost the series 2-1 but earned the Olympian’s respect. Shaq’s performance, especially for his age, showed that he could have been the dominant force he was in basketball in any sport that he wanted to commit himself to. But us basketball fans should be glad that we got to witness Shaq play basketball.
