Is That Eminem Competing? Italian Archer’s Uncanny Resemblance to Rap Legend Shocks 2024 Summer Olympics Viewers

Some 2024 Summer Olympics viewers are noting just how strikingly similar one archer looks to a certain American rapper.

After 36-year-old Italian archer Mauro Nespoli stepped out onto the archery range at Paris’ Esplanade des Invalides on Monday, July 29, viewers in Italy, France and the U.S. alike noticed that he bears quite the resemblance to Eminem.

“Italian Eminem,” one Olympics viewer captioned a post on X shared during Nespoli’s against France’s archer Thomas Chirault, during which he wore a bucket hat and sported a beard that looked similar to Slim Shady’s.

“Yoooo it’s Marcello Mathers,” one X user replying to the post joked.

“Italian Eminem eating mom’s spaghetti it all makes sense now!” another quipped.

Nespoli — who previously took home a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics against the U.S. — got into the meme with fans on his Instagram page over the course of the next few days, joking with fans about his appearance and sharing a post to his Instagram Stories that called him “Italian Eminem.”

In one post, he posed like the “Houdini” rapper in an interview with an Italian journalist, who joked in the caption: “If you had one shot, or one opportunity/To seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment/Would you capture it, or just let it slip? 🎯🇮🇹”

Although Nespoli and Team Italy lost to France 6-2 during his match on Monday, he took home wins against Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and France over the course of the next several days, as well as one more loss 6-2 to South Korea. Nespoli is next set to compete against Canada on Sunday, Aug. 4.

Though Eminem was only present in spirit, rap has been well-represented at the Paris games thus far, as Snoop Dogg has helped NBC to anchor some of the network’s broadcasts, served as a torchbearer (and cheered on Simone Biles and Coco Gauff from the sidelines).

Fellow rapper Flavor Flav has also made waves at the games this year, after he proved himself to be a dedicated supporter and sponsor for the U.S. women’s water polo team so the women could afford their Olympic training.