--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Someone Got a Michael Phelps Face Tattoo description: A man now has a tattoo of Michael Phelps' dressing room game face. canonical: https://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-12T16:52:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:35.313Z og:title: This Guy Already Got a Michael Phelps Game Face Tattoo og:description: Talking to the tattoo artist who did the deed og:url: https://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ff9ee46659796c/6988a1ca0a4a223a9a9cadde/gettyimages-587858200.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: SWIMMING-OLY-2016-RIO-PODIUM og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Guy Already Got a Michael Phelps Game Face Tattoo twitter:description: Talking to the tattoo artist who did the deed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ff9ee46659796c/6988a1ca0a4a223a9a9cadde/gettyimages-587858200.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Someone Already Got Michael Phelps’ Game Face Tattooed on His Body by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 12, 2016 4:52 PM UTC  U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps and his 21st gold medal after Team USA won the men's 4x200-m freestyle relay final during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 9, 2016 U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps and his 21st gold medal after Team USA won the men's 4x200-m freestyle relay final during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 9, 2016Gabriel Bouys—AFP/Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 12, 2016 4:52 PM UTC [Phelps face](http://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/) is already a tattoo. After a camera in the ready room captured Michael Phelps’ intense stare while Chad le Clos did his little dance before Monday night’s 200-meter butterfly race, the image became social media’s [meme of the moment](http://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/), and now it’s permanently inked on a Phelps fan’s body. Tattoo artist Livia Tsang told TIME that she gave Ricky Fung, co-founder at Chronic Ink Tattoos in Toronto, the tattoo “because he’s first and foremost a big Phelps fan, but also because of his work ethic and perseverance,” she explains. The tattoo is apparently no joke, Fung admires the [groundbreaking Olympian’s](http://time.com/4449636/michael-phelps-rio-2016-olympics-gold-medals-lochte/) concentration. “When we chose the image, we had a bit of a laugh about it, but he told me that he wanted it because it showed his moment of focus before the race.” Tsang had to work from a zoomed-in screen shot to create the tattoo, which was challenging. “The most important thing was to really capture his eyes.” Phelps won his 22nd gold medal Thursday, and will compete in the 100-meter butterfly race Friday night. This is the face of swimming that will always live on. > [](https://twitter.com/liviatsang/status/763899837863649281) See some of his face’s greatest hits below.  Getty Images (4); Gif by Elijah Sinclair Walker for TIME Rio 2016 Olympics: Someone Got a Michael Phelps Face Tattoo ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/"},"headline":"Someone Already Got Michael Phelps’ Game Face Tattooed on His Body","datePublished":"2016-08-12T16:52:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:35.313Z","description":"It's all in the eyes","url":"https://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Sports topic","Internet","Michael Phelps"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ff9ee46659796c/6988a1ca0a4a223a9a9cadde/gettyimages-587858200.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90ff9ee46659796c/6988a1ca0a4a223a9a9cadde/gettyimages-587858200.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SWIMMING-OLY-2016-RIO-PODIUM","caption":"SWIMMING-OLY-2016-RIO-PODIUM","creditText":"Gabriel Bouys—AFP/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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/","name":"Someone Already Got Michael Phelps’ Game Face Tattooed on His Body"}}]}] ```