--- description: After winning Tuesday night’s 200-meter fly final of the Rio Olympics, Michael Phelps burst into laughter as the national anthem played. title: The Reason Michael Phelps Was Laughing During the National Anthem Will Make You Smile image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0695c4bba0be890/6988a1cdab6d7774a76aada7/michael-phelps-laughing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [olympics](/tag/olympics/) ## olympics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Reason Michael Phelps Was Laughing During the National Anthem Will Make You Smile  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 10, 2016 2:56 PM CUT  Michael Phelps laughs after being presented with his 20th Olympic gold medal after winning the men's 200-meter butterfly at Rio 2016 on Tuesday, August 9, 2016. Michael Phelps laughs after being presented with his 20th Olympic gold medal after winning the men's 200-meter butterfly at Rio 2016 on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 10, 2016 2:56 PM CUT After winning Tuesday night’s [200-meter fly final](http://time.com/4446040/michael-phelps-swimming-olympics-rio/ "undefined") of the Rio 2016 Summer Games, [Michael Phelps](http://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/ "undefined") stood atop the Olympic podium to be awarded his [20th gold medal](http://time.com/4444756/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-gold-medal-celebrations/ "undefined"). But as the United States national anthem played, the 31-year-old swimmer suddenly burst into laughter, causing many to wonder what was so funny. Luckily, following his second gold of the night for the [4×200-meter freestyle relay](http://time.com/4445981/rio-2016-swimming-ledecky-phelps-hosszu-gold/ "undefined"), Phelps let everyone else in on the joke. [_Sports Illustrated_](http://www.si.com/olympics/2016/08/10/michael-phelps-laughing-national-anthem-baltimore-orioles "undefined")reported that during an interview with NBC, he explained that his hometown friends had been the reason he couldn’t keep a straight face. > [](https://twitter.com/jameson2111/status/763199586882039808) “My boys from Baltimore were down on the other end, and back in Maryland, we all say “O!” for the Orioles during that part of the national anthem,” Phelps said. “And all of the sudden I hear them roar “O!,” and I knew exactly where it came from, and I just lost it because those guys came down from Baltimore and New York City to be here, and it’s just special to see those guys in the stands.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4446337/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-laughing-national-anthem/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4446337/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-laughing-national-anthem/"},"headline":"The Reason Michael Phelps Was Laughing During the National Anthem Will Make You Smile","datePublished":"2016-08-10T14:56:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:18.463Z","description":"The swimmer couldn't keep a straight face","url":"https://time.com/4446337/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-laughing-national-anthem/","keywords":["olympics","Newsfeed","Michael Phelps","Summer Olympics","Rio 2016","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Rio 2016 Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0695c4bba0be890/6988a1cdab6d7774a76aada7/michael-phelps-laughing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0695c4bba0be890/6988a1cdab6d7774a76aada7/michael-phelps-laughing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rio 2016 swimming","caption":"Michael Phelps laughs after being presented with his 20th Olympic gold medal after winning the men's 200-meter butterfly at Rio 2016 on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.","creditText":"AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/olympics/","name":"olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4446337/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-laughing-national-anthem/","name":"The Reason Michael Phelps Was Laughing During the National Anthem Will Make You Smile"}}]}] ```