--- title: 2016 Rio Olympics: Michael Phelps' Game Face Becomes Meme description: Michael Phelps unwittingly became social media's meme of moment Monday night prior to the 200 meter butterfly Olympics semifinals in Rio. canonical: https://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-09T05:23:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:15.325Z og:title: Michael Phelps Terrifies Twitter with His Game Face og:description: The Olympic swimming legend unwittingly became social media's meme of moment og:url: https://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Phelps Terrifies Twitter with His Game Face twitter:description: The Olympic swimming legend unwittingly became social media's meme of moment twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Michael Phelps' Dressing Room Death Stare Becomes Internet Sensation by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 9, 2016 5:23 AM UTC by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 9, 2016 5:23 AM UTC [Michael Phelps](http://time.com/tag/michael-phelps/) unwittingly became social media’s meme of moment Monday night prior to the 200 meter butterfly [Olympics](http://time.com/tag/olympics/) semifinals in Rio. Shrouded in his hooded USA jacket and large headphones, the 31-year-old [Olympic legend](http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/31/not-done-yet-michael-phelps-become-most-decorated-olympian-of-all-time/?iid=sr-link10) was caught on camera with the most intense game face while gearing himself up for the race in the dressing room. His rival, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos — who beat Phelps to the gold in the same event in the 2012 Games — was dancing and shadowboxing directly in front of him. Phelps, however, remained unfazed, giving Le Clos a meme-worthy death stare in return. His pre-race prep clearly paid off, as Phelps claimed second place in the event, and will advance to the finals on Tuesday. > [](https://twitter.com/heymichellelee/status/762841323359444992) > [](https://twitter.com/chibdm/status/762836153032581121) > [](https://twitter.com/spencerhughes13/status/762843130970320896) > [](https://twitter.com/dukebaby401/status/762841301255454720) > [](https://twitter.com/jordanuhl/status/762841467542835200) > [](https://twitter.com/petridishes/status/762840997705359362) > [](https://twitter.com/twittermoments/status/762840662102245376) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/"},"headline":"Michael Phelps' Dressing Room Death Stare Becomes Internet Sensation","datePublished":"2016-08-09T05:23:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:15.325Z","description":"That's not a face you'd want to mess with","url":"https://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics","brazil","Rio","Michael Phelps","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Casey Quackenbush","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/","name":"Michael Phelps' Dressing Room Death Stare Becomes Internet Sensation"}}]}] ```