Michael Phelps went to a black barber shop in ATL before Rio
By Andre Pruitt
25-time medalist Michael Phelps decided to hit a black barbershop before going to Rio.
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With 25 medals and counting to his name, including three golds so far at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Michael Phelps is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history, having been a dominating force at the Games since Athens in 2004.
This may well be Phelps’ last Olympics go-round, why with the 31-year-old already considered an “old man” in a sport where youth, energy, and stamina are of the utmost. Phelps has hinted he will officially retire after the Rio Games, something he also did four years ago after yet another tour-de-force performance in London.
With this possibly being Phelps final Olympics, feeling like you played a part, however small, helping him prepare for Rio is something you’re liable to cherish forever. Even if it’s something simple as a haircut. Before embarking for Brazil, Phelps visited Atlanta’s Vintage the Barber Shop — considered one of the best black barbershops in Atlanta, according to Yelp — for a quick trim ahead of his swan-song trip.
The barber who cut Phelps’ hair, Raefus Cox, is clearly taking great joy in seeing Phelps’ cut on the main stage, telling the Undefeated, “To see a haircut that I did on the Olympic stage – it’s incredible. It’s definitely a proud moment.”
It’s worth wondering how nerve-racking a task it was to give Phelps’ the proper cut, why with body-hair aerodynamics being a crucial part of the Olympic swimmer’s preparation protocol. Not for Cox, apparently, who added that “We cut a lot of straight hair. So a white guy coming into our shop is no big deal.”
Talk about a moment Cox will able to tell his children and grandchildren about. From here on forward, he will forever be the guy who gave the greatest Olympian in history his last, signature look in a career spent almost entirely in the eyes of the camera.