At the London Games in 2012, McKayla Maroney of the American gymnastics team went viral when cameras caught her looking a little less than impressed after placing silver in an individual event. But now, a new Olympic meme has arrived: #PhelpsFace.
Feeling a little confused? When waiting in the ready room for the 200 meter butterfly semifinals, Michael Phelps was listening to his music and getting in the zone. His game face level was around a seven. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, Chad Le Clos of South Africa had a different warmup planned – one consisting of shadowboxing right in front of Phelps, then walking right up to him and shimmying in his face before giving him a thumbs up.
Makes zero sense why anyone would want to get @MichaelPhelps more fired up! #Olympics #Rio2016 #TeamUSA #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/JWFR8zVmzz
— joshuadpick (@joshuadpick) August 9, 2016
Let’s just say that Phelps’ game face level went WAY up.
With every meme comes a backstory. Phelps and Le Clos have definitely met before. At the last Olympic games, Chad Le Clos beat Michael Phelps in the 200 meter butterfly by 0.05 seconds. We’re thinking that Le Clos is planning on defending his title, and Phelps is planning to reclaim it.
Now that you’re all caught up, here are 10 of our favourite #PhelpsFace fan reactions!
10. Pokemon Struggles
https://twitter.com/xeni/status/762846049249529863?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
9. Eminemception
https://twitter.com/ChiBDM/status/762836153032581121
8. Shopping with Mom
When your mom made you put back what you had in the shopping cart. #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/bYHZ5mEHKM
— Ron Bautista (@BautistaNY) August 9, 2016
You thought you could sneak that bag of chips into the cart. You thought wrong.
7. More Shopping Fun
When another cashier opens and says "I can help the next person in line" & someone behind you goes over #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/KNEGuRDKnm
— Andrew Hunt (@AndrewHunt311) August 9, 2016
“That Should Be Me” by Justin Bieber then starts playing in our heads as we hold back tears.
6. Tuesday Mornings
https://twitter.com/emitoms/status/763039062491930624
Waking up and realizing that it’s not Friday or Saturday is a disappointment we can always count on.
5. Mornings in General
When you wake up before the alarm #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/W5F35vULKt
— Jessica Reyes (@jessicareyes) August 9, 2016
We’ve all had that moment. Waking up, panicked because you think you’re late – and it’s 5:30 in the morning. Your alarm is set for 7.
4. Star Wars
https://twitter.com/sawmilltaters/status/763036354695626752
Revenge of the 20+ time Olympic medalist.
3. Parking Lot Struggles
when I'm pulling into a sweet parking spot at Target & someone left their shopping cart in the space #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/irg8VTVzLc
— Ami Allen-Vath (@amilouiseallen) August 9, 2016
It’s worse when you don’t even have a passenger to go out and help move it for you. So you continue your sad, slow parking lot circling in hopes for a better future for your car.
2. Forgetting your Password
When you get locked out of your account for entering too many incorrect passwords. #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/4asw3IqLQG
— K.T. – TeamLH?? ? (@love_music23) August 9, 2016
Seriously, just trust us this one time. After the hour-long lock period is over.
1. You’re vs. Your
https://twitter.com/ldwin/status/762851986756608001
It’s 2016. We have the internet. Why is this such a problem?
What’s your favourite #PhelpsFace fan reaction? Let us know by tweeting us at @CelebMix!