The Olympic tension on #PhelpsFace

So South Africa’s medals haven’t exactly been pouring in, but we’ve got a few silvers and we’re proud of that. There’s still time to rack up some golds. It was unfortunate that Phelps was just a little quicker than our boy Chad le Clos in the pool, but maybe it was because of that very weird moment ahead of the race.

It’s possible that le Clos was intimidated by Phelps’ expression of menace during the warm up, but perhaps more likely that he was still chuckling to himself when the race began. We would have been anyway, and that could have been Phelps’ strategy, who knows. It worked –he won gold– and in the process, a new meme was born.

Twitter users were quick to think of occasions when such a face would be appropriate:

@rissyk12: When you've got headphones on and people still come up to you and start talking #PhelpsFace

@Ms_CindyGriffin: When it's 9am on a Saturday morning and everyone is cutting their grass #PhelpsFace

@majtague: When you're walking down the street and hear "Excuse me sir, do you have a minute for..." #PhelpsFace

Some have compared his dark eyes under that hood to Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith, asking who wore it better.

Maybe after the race, with his 22nd gold medal around his neck, he was able to unwind, Malia Obama style.

Wild cannon Trump lets loose

And now let’s dive into the political swimming pool. It’s a bit green and gross, and contains plenty of urine, but there were some laughs to be had this week. No social media user on the planet could completely avoid running into a mention of Donald Trump’s latest utterances.

The first was when Trump seemed to hint that in order to protect the right to bear arms from Hillary Clinton, ‘second amendment folks’ may need to use those arms to get their way. Democrats exploded with outrage, and so the ambiguous statement was clarified – Trump meant with votes, not with guns.

Okay, so that wasn’t too funny, considering how likely it was that he really did mean what Democrats thought he meant and that one or more unhinged and heavily armed followers might have thought that too.

Just as Trump’s damage control team (those poor, overworked people) were starting to relax again, he declared that Obama was the founder of ISIS. When given the benefit of the doubt and asked if he meant metaphorically, he said no, Obama was the literal founder of ISIS (and Clinton the co-founder). As in, he arranged the meetings, wrote the manifesto, maybe even designed the flag.

@Haroldltz: Obama founded ISIS??? I know he was a community organiser but this is going too far!!! 

@SortaBad: Trump says that Obama founded ISIS but in his defence Donald thinks that founded is a synonym for ‘located’ 

It’s refreshing to see his popularity slide further away each time he says something ridiculous. It’s proof that not all Americans are crazy.

Activists remind South Africa of Kwezi

In our local political swimming pool, things got a little steamy when President Zuma addressed the nation following the election results. Four women stole his show by standing before the cameras with cardboard signs that read “10 years later”, “Remember Kwezi”, “I am one in 3”, and “Khanga”. They stood rooted to the spot for the duration of his speech, and were then forcefully shoved out of the venue by security.

The incident completely drowned any point the president had tried to make in his address and got the country talking about a case (and a victim) that was beginning to seem all but forgotten.

@Blue_Khall: Those protesters just created history. They are changing the narrative. #RememberKwezi

@moloisrj: Wow wow wow, the most powerful silence protest I’ve ever seen #ElectionResults Mr.President sweating :o

Meanwhile, the country waits with baited breath for the outcome of the coalition negotiations, and just what kind of unlikely bedfellows the #ElectionResults have created.

And that’s about it for this week. Some other stuff happened too, but these were the podium finishers. Have a great weekend.

*Image courtesy of @Bosslogic