Kim Kardashian's ex was once a faster swimmer than Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte
Kris Humphries isn't just a very average NBA player and the ex-husband of Kim Kardashian.
Turns out Humphries used to be a child swimming prodigy -- so good, it fact, that he beat Olympic legends Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte when all three future sports stars were just 10 years old.
Our revelation comes via the Atlanta Hawks, Humphries' current NBA team, which published a story about his aquatic accomplishments Monday. Before playing for the Hawks, Humphries played for the Suns, Wizards, Celtics, Nets, Mavericks, Raptors and Jazz.
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Before all that, he grew up in Minnesota, where he was a child swimming phenom.
As a 10-year-old kid in 1995, Humphries posted national-best times in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly, 50-meter backstroke, 50-meter breaststroke and 200-meter individual medley -- sometimes finishing ahead of Phelps and Lochte.
The Hawks searched through USA Swimming's age group rankings from the 1994-95 season to unearth some gems. Thanks to their sleuthing, here's 10-year-old Humphries edging out Phelps in the 50-meter butterfly.
Here's 10-year-old Humphries beating Phelps again, this time in the 100-meter freestyle.
And here's 10-year-old Humphries beating both Phelps and Lochte in the 50-meter freestyle.
Phelps just retired as the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 23 gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes. Lochte has twelve Olympic medals of his own, six of them gold.
Humphries, meanwhile, is an NBA journeyman who's perhaps best known for his two-month marriage to the reality TV star Kardashian back in 2011.
The alternate history creates a cascading series of questions beginning with: What if Humphries had kept swimming?
Would the world currently be celebrating the iconic aquatic career of not Phelps but one Kristopher Humphries, former Minnesota child prodigy? Would Humphries have married Kardashian in 2011, helping keep her in the limelight as she ascended to mogul status?
So many questions. So many hypotheticals.
In any event, Humphries climbed out of the pool permanently not long after out-racing Phelps and Lochte when all three were children.
"I was so good at a young age that I got a little burnt out," he told People magazine (which identified him as "Kim Kardashian's new beau") in 2010. "I also grew up in the Michael Jordan era ... for me, I watched [basketball] and saw it as a challenge. It's hard to stay focused on something when you have a ton of success at a young age, so I picked up basketball a little later and rolled with that."
Topics Olympics
Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
