On Monday, some were introduced to South African swimmer Chad le Clos as the man in the photo of Michael Phelps’ death stare. On Tuesday, le Clos was the subject of ridicule after the final of the men’s 200m butterfly.
NBC cameras honed in on le Clos staring down Phelps prior to Monday’s semifinal and then again on Tuesday. The tension between the swimmers was also brought up on the broadcast. With both men qualifying for the final, all eyes were on Phelps and le Clos.
Phelps won to capture his 20th gold medal and gave an epic finger wave afterward. Le Clos finished fourth and failed to medal.
As you can probably imagine, the 24-year-old, who beat Phelps for the gold in the 200m butterfly at the London Games in 2012, was a target for jokes on social media after not earning a place on the medal stand this time around.
The infamous crying Jordan face made numerous appearances.
Chad Le So Clos #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/o5c3l46p5U
— KC (@cwellis2016) August 10, 2016
@chadleclos no more dancing boy pic.twitter.com/tVVZue0axo
— Joshua Helton (@j5hel) August 10, 2016
@realcharder30 @chadleclos Look closely pic.twitter.com/PRzSBUTrSD
— (@STACKNupYOchips) August 10, 2016
.@chadleclos pic.twitter.com/loVCnfvCqQ
— Dan Carson (@TheDoctorCarson) August 10, 2016
Here’s some of the best of the rest.
Chad Le Clos when his Michael Phelps intimidation tactics come back to bite him: #Rio2016 @absrdNEWS pic.twitter.com/tdPZKYsaPO
— Will Presti (@WillPresti) August 10, 2016
Requested by @RJGrandits: Michael Phelps added to Chad le Clos family. pic.twitter.com/pHxzlXQ7Zy
— ⓂarcusD (@_MarcusD_) August 10, 2016
You can stare at this shiny ass medal, son. #TeamUSA #MichaelPhelps #Olympics @SBNation pic.twitter.com/ZAqI1ILrpQ
— EROCK (@TheMightyEROCK) August 10, 2016
The CryingJordan.com website was also redirected to le Clos’ website:
The switch has been made. pic.twitter.com/WHr7Kdf6Bh
— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) August 10, 2016
And finally, it also looks as though someone temporarily edited le Clos’ Wikipedia page.
RIP Chad le Clos pic.twitter.com/8AkfZwnd0U
— Jeff (@jeffbaringhaus) August 10, 2016
And this is only a few. There are hundreds more.
