One of the most famous memes to emerge from the recently-concluded Rio Olympics that set the internet on fire was the 28-time Olympic medallist Michael Phelps’ deathly stare. Right before his much-awaited duel with the 2012 gold medallist Chad le Clos in the 200m butterfly final race, the cameras captured the world’s most decorated Olympian in his most focused avatar. The Baltimore Bullet, who later on went on to reclaim the gold, produced one of the most fearsome glares as his rival Le Clos was shadowboxing in front of him before their race.
Trending
That fierce photo of a hooded Phelps spread like a wildfire on the Net as fans kept on sharing some of the funniest memes and it even became a top trend worldwide on Twitter for quite some time!
Back in the USA, Phelps has been flooded with questions about his angry face. At the MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday, the 31-year-old revealed that he was ‘in the zone’ that day while listening to rapper Future’s ‘Stick Talk’ track.
The star swimmer then appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon that was aired on Thursday. Without a doubt, their conversation veered to the meme as Fallon presented Phelps with a life-size cutout of the Olympian’s hooded stare.
Phelps said that he was fully aware that the cameras were on his face at that time and he expected the glare to go viral.
“The worst is that I was sitting in the ready room and I remember like, I always knew there were two cameras up in the right hand corner right before I walk out. As I was making a face, I said, ‘Yeah, that’s on camera, someone will pick that up tomorrow,’” the 23-time gold medallist said.
Fallon added to it and joked that the angry face made him think, “Not only is he going to beat me at swimming, he’s going to murder me,” as Phelps burst into peals of laughter.
The hilarious exchange also saw the eminent swimmer trying to replicate his pre-competition stare.
Watch the conversation here:
Michael Phelps brought an end to his storied Olympic career after winning five golds and a silver medal at Rio. This was the fifth time he participated at the mega-quadrennial Games thus creating a record as the first US male swimmer to qualify for five Olympics.
