--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Michael Phelps Explains His Iconic Face description: Phelps explains what he was actually thinking when the iconic #PhelpsFace picture was taken, a photo that launched a thousand memes. canonical: https://time.com/4455032/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-face-2/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-16T19:43:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:35.338Z og:title: Michael Phelps On What Was Really Going on With That Face og:description: Phelps explains what he was actually thinking during the iconic #PhelpsFace shot og:url: https://time.com/4455032/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-face-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca720ed8cb2c6474/6988a239bc6cfc1c703de3c2/phelps.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rio Olympics Swimming og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Phelps On What Was Really Going on With That Face twitter:description: Phelps explains what he was actually thinking during the iconic #PhelpsFace shot twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca720ed8cb2c6474/6988a239bc6cfc1c703de3c2/phelps.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Michael Phelps Explains What Was Really Going on With His Iconic Phelps Game Face by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 16, 2016 7:43 PM UTC  Michael Phelps celebrates the gold medal for the men's 200-meter individual medley final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 11, 2016,. Michael Phelps celebrates the gold medal for the men's 200-meter individual medley final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 11, 2016,.Martin Meissner—AP by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 16, 2016 7:43 PM UTC The [utter dominance of Michael Phelps](http://time.com/4451492/phelps-gold-medals-rio-2016-olympics-swimming-ledecky-simone-manuelgolden-finale-for-phelps-final-farewell/?iid=sr-link8) has been the reigning story of the Rio 2016 Olympics — and his most memorable moment on social media has probably been the [meme-tastic snapshot of the swimmer](http://time.com/4444374/michael-phelps-rio-olympics-game-face/?iid=sr-link2) preparing for his 200 meter butterfly semifinal, with rival Olympian Chad le Clos just a few feet away from him. South Africa’s Le Clos, who at the same moment was shadowboxing as his own preparation, beat Phelps at the same event in 2012. But Phelps beat him this time, and the internet went crazy for the intense look, quickly giving it its own name — #PhelpsFace — and spawning a steady stream of jokes, memes, and a [tattoo](http://time.com/4450404/michael-phelps-face-tattoo/). But what was really going on when Phelps made the now-iconic expression? “I just had music going on in my head. I had thoughts going on in my head, spitting water a little bit all over the place, so I was in my own zone,” the 28-time Olympic medalist [told TODAY on Tuesday](http://www.today.com/news/michael-phelps-boomer-his-olympic-dream-come-true-t101882). “I was not intentionally mean mugging him or giving him a dirty look.” So there you have it, straight from the source: it wasn’t actually a death stare aimed at Le Clos after all. Just the look of concentration that the Greatest Olympian of All Time musters when he prepares to break records in his [swan song to the sport.](http://time.com/4452285/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-retirement/?iid=sr-link6) See the face and some of his other best Olympics faces below.  Getty Images (4); Gif by Elijah Sinclair Walker for TIME Rio 2016 Olympics: Michael Phelps Explains His Iconic Face ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4455032/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-face-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4455032/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-face-2/"},"headline":"Michael Phelps Explains What Was Really Going on With His Iconic Phelps Game Face","datePublished":"2016-08-16T19:43:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:35.338Z","description":"The truth comes out","url":"https://time.com/4455032/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-face-2/","keywords":["Newsfeed","olympics","viral","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Rio 2016 Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca720ed8cb2c6474/6988a239bc6cfc1c703de3c2/phelps.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/bltca720ed8cb2c6474/6988a239bc6cfc1c703de3c2/phelps.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rio Olympics Swimming","caption":"United States' Michael Phelps celebrates after he was awarded the gold medal during the medal ceremony for the men's 200-meter individual medley final during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, in Rio de Janeir","creditText":"Martin Meissner—AP","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/4455032/rio-2016-olympics-michael-phelps-face-2/","name":"Michael Phelps Explains What Was Really Going on With His Iconic Phelps Game Face"}}]}] ```