Michael Phelps' glare at Chad le Clos now a tattoo

ByDARREN ROVELL
August 12, 2016, 2:50 PM

— -- Ricky Fung just had to have it.

Seeing the attention that Michael Phelps' stinkface had gotten on social media, he was convinced it was time to start a tattoo sleeve on his right calf and the Phelps face would be the first image.

"I wasn't even a big Phelps fan before this, and I'm not really a swim fan," Fung said. "But just seeing him go out and win the way he has has been inspiring to me."

"He had always talked about getting a sleeve of athletes and famous people," said Livia Tsang, who works as a tattoo artist in the Toronto shop that Fung owns, Chronic Ink.

The video and images of Phelps sitting in his chair in the call room on Monday making the face?while competitor Chad le Clos -- who beat Phelps in the 200-meter butterfly in London in 2012 -- strangely shadowboxed in front of him had most people laughing even before it turned into an internet meme. ( Click here to read more.) But Tsang said her boss didn't care.

"People who work in the industry don't pay attention as much to what people think of what they get," Tsang said. "They are more concerned with filling up space on their body."

At the time Fung committed to getting the tattoo, Phelps and Le Clos had not raced in the final. The story got even better when Phelps won the gold and Le Clos didn't medal at all.

Tsang said she found the highest-quality photo she could, filled in some details and, on Thursday, tattooed the image onto Fung.

Tsang and the tattoo parlor then posted a photo of the inside of Fung's right calf with his new addition on social media, and Tsang's email and phone started blowing up.

"I was out last night and a bunch of people were coming up to me, asking why I got it," Fung said, "and I had to explain to them that looking at that is a good reminder every day to go out with focus and dominate like he did."