Before swimming against his arch rival, Michael Phelps put on the most intense game face that has now been turned into a hilarious meme.
Last night the world’s most decorated Olympian, Michael Phelps, came face-to-face with his arch enemy, South African swimmer Chad le Clos. At the 2012 London Games, Le Clos snuck up on Phelps at the end of the 200 meter butterfly, turning Phelps’ highly anticipated gold into a meager silver medal. The pair has strongly disliked each other ever since, and nothing made that more apparent than their interaction (or lack thereof) last night.
The semi-final in the same event was held last night and Phelps and Le Clos shared a dressing room while prepping for the race at the aquatics center. Both athletes had a very different approach to getting race-ready—Chad shadowboxed while Phelps gave him the most intense game face we’ve ever seen. Seriously, if looks could kill, Phelps’ gaze could have easily turned Chad into a tiny mound of ash. Take a look for yourselves.
.@MichaelPhelps is not impressed with Chad le Clos's antics.
For more swimming coverage: https://t.co/Bpy94WsMrM https://t.co/ylAYZgHm1h
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2016
Sitting in a corner, with a hood over his head covering giant noise-cancelling head phones, Phelps’ game face has taken the Twitter world by storm, becoming the next best meme since Michael Jordan’s crying face. (Read: The Crying Jordan Is Now a Sneaker—And It’s Amazing)
Here are some of the funniest memes that have surfaced as a reaction to the #PhelpsFace:
boomer: "dad i pooped"
michael phelps: pic.twitter.com/FMT3vgB17o— Amanda Lucci (@alucci) August 9, 2016
When you're the real Slim Shady but someone else stood up. pic.twitter.com/CtQTu7FXEa
— Brend@n (@ChiBDM) August 9, 2016
When you have 10,000 spoons and all you need is a knife #phelpsface pic.twitter.com/YmC0AIPE70
— David Powell (@davidpowell83) August 9, 2016
I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative pic.twitter.com/5zuTbQJxwN
— Michelle Lee (@heymichellelee) August 9, 2016
Thankfully, his pre-race prep paid off as he placed second in the event, while Le Clos came in fifth place. It’s safe to say we are more than excited to watch these two go head-to-head in the water again tonight.