Chad le Clos says he holds no animosity toward great rival Michael Phelps as the South African prepares to come up against the legendary American in the Olympic 200-meter butterfly final on Tuesday.
Social media lit up as Phelps glared at le Clos while he warmed up for Monday's semifinal by shadow boxing in the call room in front of the most decorated Olympic swimmer of all time.
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Le Clos was unperturbed and will aim to get Phelps' blood boiling again by retaining his title in an eagerly awaited showdown at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre.
"For my side there is no real tension," le Clos said. "I have no emotion when I am racing. Of course there is a huge rivalry between Michael and myself. As I have said before I have huge respect for him."
The 24-year-old stunned Phelps by claiming 200m butterfly gold in the London Games four years ago.
Le Clos stressed on the eve of the Rio final that he has no ill feeling for Phelps, who won gold in the 4x100m freestyle Sunday to take his Olympic medal tally to 23, despite some verbal sparring at the World Championships in Kazan last year.
"In the last year there was definitely spoken words over his nationals and I had world championships, I think a lot of it was misquoted," le Clos said. "But at the end of the day I am a racer and I want to beat him and he wants to beat me."
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Le Clos warned his rivals that he will not relinquish his Olympic title without a fight.
He added: "I have a saying, 'You have to fear someone who never gives up.' I will keep coming back at you. So I am sure everyone else will be thinking about that the last 50 meters."
Le Clos claimed his first medal at the Rio Games when he took silver in the 200m freestyle Monday.
Meantime, the Twitterverse will continue to have its fun with #PhelpsFace.
when ur crush's significant other is at the party pic.twitter.com/KJ0N10brb5
— Max Read (@max_read) August 9, 2016
when you gotta win gold at 3 but take over the galaxy at 4 #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/HQHlgLqUUo
— Ello Raymond (@elloelloraymond) August 9, 2016
Michael Phelps angry is Eli Manning normal. pic.twitter.com/uUwR8Fmav9
— Bobby Atkinson (@BobbyAtkinson) August 9, 2016
When another cashier opens and says "I can help the next person in line" & someone behind you goes over #PhelpsFace pic.twitter.com/KNEGuRDKnm
— Andy Pandy (@Mr_AndrewHunt) August 9, 2016