In his official headshot for the London Games, Michael Phelps looks more like a dude who got busted at a Furthur concert rather than a swimmer trying to break the all-time record for most medals won in an Olympic career. Maybe it's part of a strategy to lower expectations before the Olympics. That or smother his competitors with excessive body odor.
Here's his official Olympic headshot:
(IOC)
The picture appears to have been taken weeks, if not months, ago. Phelps was sporting a short haircut at the US Olympic trials last month and showed up similarly coiffed in London. His beard is also trimmed down from its "I was just rescued by helicopter after getting lost while hiking" length. The chin whiskers will inevitably be shaved before the swimming competition starts on Saturday morning.
Phelps seemed to have no problem with his official photo, and why should he? It's not easy to recreate the bedhead look in the middle of the afternoon. He has been wearing it without any sign of embarrassment around the Aquatics Centre.
It's all about perspective though. Phelps may have looked like he was going as Nick Nolte for Halloween, but at least he wore a shirt and didn't look like he was taking a self-portrait for his MySpace profile (remember MySpace???) like Ryan Lochte:
