Chad Le Clos unleashes first salvo at rival Phelps ahead of 200m butterfly final

Chad Le Clos unleashed the first salvo of psychological warfare against Michael Phelps in the call room before their 200m butterfly semifinal at the Rio Olympics on Monday night, shadow boxing in the general direction of the American legend.

A hooded Phelps retaliated with a Darth Maul-like stare and a snarl, and went out and ensured he touched before Le Clos, who had won the 200m freestyle silver less than an hour earlier.

Le Clos was philosophical about the shadow boxing (watch video below), although when asked about it he replied coyly with his boyish smile: “Oh! Did they get that? Damn.”

Le Clos, a long-time fan of Muhammad Ali who once shadow-boxed during a media interview after a race at the 2013 world championships, explained that was who he was.

“I just do what I do. The call room is what it is and it’s a difficult place and a lot of tension, especially before a final, so we’ll see.”

• WATCH: Michael Phelps gives gold rival Chad le Clos a 'death stare' Multi-Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps gave South Africa's Chad le Clos what the US media described as a "death scare" as the pair prepared for the 200m butterfly semifinal at the Rio Olympics Games on Tuesday evening (Wednesday SA time). 

The call room, where swimmers wait before being summoned onto the pool deck for competition, is also known as the psyche room.

Le Clos denied there was tension between them following a war of words last year, when the South African was competing at the world championships in Russia and Phelps in the US.

“From my side there is no real tension. I have no emotion when I race. I’ve trained really hard for this, of course there is a huge rivalry between Michael and myself," said Le Clos.

“Like I’ve said before I have a lot of respect for him. Last year there were some spoken words when he was at his nationals and I was at world champs — a lot of it was misquoted.

“At the end of the day I’m a racer and I race to win and I want to beat Michael and he wants to beat me so, like I say, may the best man win tomorrow night.” 

Last year Le Clos was quoted saying: “Michael Phelps has been talking about how slow the butterfly events have been recently. I just did a time he hasn’t done in four years. So he can keep quiet now.”

The next day Phelps responded with a faster time.

At the London 2012 Games Le Clos stunned Phelps in the 200m butterfly, but had to settle for silver in the 100m 'fly. The two were friendly then, with the American saying he wanted to visit South Africa and go shark-diving with Le Clos's help.

It’s debatable whether Le Clos’s shadow boxing on Monday night was the first strike in the psychological warfare in Rio.

A source close to the South African camp claimed Phelps had been spotted giving Le Clos “the death stare” in the dining hall at the Olympic village last week already.

Le Clos and Phelps will race in adjacent lanes in the Tuesday night's final, which is scheduled for 3.28am Wednesday (SA time).

  - TMG Digital