Rio Olympics: Internet Reacts to Michael Phelps Destroying Chad le Clos
As you probably know, there was a lot of hype heading into the 200m butterfly final on Tuesday night due to the rivalry between Michael Phelps and Chad le Clos. Once swimming buddies destined to go shark-cage diving together in the deep depths of South Africa, they began throwing shade at one another when Phelps un-retired in 2014 because the other swimmers – including le Clos – were “really not that fast.” Le Clos responded several times, as did Phelps, and it culminated in the ultimate death stare from Phelps during qualifiers of these Olympics.
Of course, Phelps ended up winning the race to earn his 20th gold medal while le Clos didn’t even make it to the medal stand. That set the table for social media to rip le Clos apart for poking the bear and having absolutely nothing to show for it. Not only did someone change le Clos’ nickname to “Michael Phelps Pool Boy” and proclaim his death by “being literally blown out of the water by the greatest American since Abraham Lincoln” on Wikipedia, the South African became the latest victim of the Crying Jordan website and meme.
.@chadleclos pic.twitter.com/loVCnfvCqQ
— Dan Carson (@TheDoctorCarson) August 10, 2016
The switch has been made. pic.twitter.com/WHr7Kdf6Bh
— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) August 10, 2016
Chad Le So Clos #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/o5c3l46p5U
— KC (@cwellis2016) August 10, 2016
Le Clos was also gifted with the Allen Iverson-Tyronn Lue treatment and gave Americans yet another opportunity to bring #PhelpsFace back to life – much to the dismay of South Africans all over the world. If that doesn’t stop le Clos from talking trash to the most successful Olympian of all time, there probably isn’t anything in this world that will.
Watch the Obamas take part in an Olympics quiz and tell Team USA to “bring home the gold.”