Many thought he was about to ‘lose himself’ in some archery

As the Paris Olympics get underway some viewers were left confused by what they believed was an unexpected celebrity appearance at the games.

And you’d forgiven for thinking that Eminem had developed a sudden interest in archery – as a few people thought the same thing.

The archer, who was shooting for the Italian team, stepped up to the mark sporting a close-fitting blue t-shirt and a white sun hat.

But it was perhaps his frown of concentration and his choice of facial hair which led viewers to make the comparison to the iconic rapper.

And people took to social media with their observations about the doppelganger, with one writing: “Italian @Eminem about to lose himself in some Archery”

Meanwhile, another commented: “Wtf why is Eminem on the Italian archery team I thought he was american??????”

While others took a more humorous approach.

Many viewers mistook Mauro Nespoli for the rapper (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Referencing the lyrics of Eminem’s iconic single ‘Lose Yourself’, someone else joked: “Italian Eminem eating mom’s spaghetti it all makes sense now!”

Another posted: “If you have one shot or one opportunity…”, while one commenter said: “Hopefully his palms aren’t sweaty.”

A fourth pointed out: “We have not seen the US Eminem and The Italian Eminem together in the same room.”

There’s definitely some resemblance there, though it seems to be more dependant on the choice of facial hair.

But of course, this definitely was not Slimy Shady himself.

It was actually Italian archer Mauro Nespoli, who is a highly experienced and skilled archer – as you might expect for an Olympian.

You can kind of see the resemblence (Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)

According to World Archery, Nespoli is ranked fifth in the world on men’s recurve archery and is a three-time Olympic medallist, including two team medals and one individual medal.

After making his international debut in 2002, he took the team silver medal at Beijing in 2008, team gold at London in 2012, and an individual silver at Tokyo in 2020.

And it seems that news of his doppelgänger has reached Nespoli as he shared a post on his Instagram Story where his and Eminem’s faces had been swapped, which he reacted to with a laughing emoji – so clearly he sees the funny side of it.

At the time of writing, Italy are ranked eighth in the medal tables after having taken three gold medals, six silver, and four bronze.

China is currently top of the table, with 11 gold medals, seven silver, and three bronze, while the US is in fifth with six gold, 13 silver, and 12 bronze.