For two athletes who defined excellence in their respective sports, it almost feels absurd that people sometimes don’t recognize Eli Manning and Michael Phelps for who they are.
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Manning is a two-time Super Bowl champion and MVP who holds nearly every major New York Giants passing record, while Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals, including an astonishing 23 golds. Yet despite being legends, both men say they’ve often been mistaken for each other.
The Giants legend, in particular, admitted that it has happened to him more than once.
“There’s been several instances from over the years when I was out in public and people came up to me very excited to meet me, only because they thought that I was you. They thought I was Michael Phelps,” Manning shared on the latest episode of Mannigcast. He then told the story of one such moment at Newark Airport.
Sitting quietly, Manning was approached by a man with a pen and paper. “He kind of does like a little no-look, you know, hand of the paper. I start to sign my name, and he’s like, I’m a big fan Michael,” the ex-NFL QB recalled.
Naturally confused, Manning told him he wasn’t Michael. Hilariously enough, the fan looked shocked, asking, “You’re not Michael Phelps?” and when Manning confirmed he wasn’t, the man bizarrely followed up with, “Well, do you swim?”
This made the Giants icon laugh at the absurdity, explaining he didn’t, but acknowledged that, for some reason, people believed the resemblance was there.
Having set up the story perfectly, the former Giants quarterback then turned to Phelps, who was guesting on the show, and asked if the reverse had ever happened. In response, Phelps surprisingly revealed: “I actually have.” And his example was just as memorable:
“There was an astronaut at a Super Bowl and he came up to me in a suite and he was like, ‘I’m such a fan of your dad and your brother.’ I have two sisters, like who are you talking? And I was like, Oh My God, look, it’s Eli.”
.@EliManning and @MichaelPhelps getting confused for each other by fans is straight comedy pic.twitter.com/8lpbZWs8u9
— Omaha Productions (@OmahaProd) September 23, 2025
The US swimming icon then went on to share another moment, this time at a country concert where a friend’s brother approached him with the exact same mistake, insisting he was Eli Manning. Phelps then added that it used to happen so often that even on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a segment poked fun at the uncanny confusion.
But the Olympics legend is now happy that with his bushy beard and man bun, the cases of mistaken identity have slowed down. But his anecdote — “There was an astronaut” — truly sums up just how surreal it has been to be confused with the Giants quarterback despite standing as one of the greatest Olympians in history.
All told, Eli Manning and Michael Phelps’ mix-up stories remind us that even icons in football and swimming sometimes get mistaken for someone else. So perhaps the next time your Starbucks barista goofs up your order with someone else’s, use this story to remind yourself that it’s okay. It happens with the best of us!
