Woman asks stranger on the street out to coffee. Then finds out she just actually hit on an Olympian swimmer

If it's your lucky day, you could spot a celebrity walking on the street, sipping coffee, or sitting at the table next to you in a café you visit every other day. Something similar happened with a woman named Jony who was walking on the street, looking forward to having a regular day, when she met someone unexpected. The advertising agency The Attention Seeker — which goes by the username @theattnseeker — posted a video on their Instagram page where Jony goes up to a stranger and randomly asks him for coffee — on her. She didn't quite realize in that moment just how famous he was.

Jony, who is shooting on the camera, spots a stranger, asks him out for coffee, and informs him that he's being recorded, to which he doesn't resist. After exchanging names, she proceeds with her next question, “Lewis, what do you do?” He replies after a brief pause, “I like to swim… I try to make a living [of it].” Jony wonders if he is a teacher, but Lewis quickly replies, “I jump in the pool and try to race other people and beat them.” She is taken aback when he reveals that he is an Olympic athlete representing New Zealand. Surprised, she says, “Oh, so you are a swimmer swimmer” — the double emphasis meant to denote his high league.

When Jony asks him about his favourite swimming style, he replies that he can’t choose one. Usually, he goes for a “medley,” cycling through all four of them. He also talks to her about his work week, how he wakes up in the morning, goes for a swim, takes a nap, then goes for a swim again in the evening. She further asks him about his coffee order — a flat white with beef milk — and places it for him, following up with a request of her own: If he talked to her boss, Stanley, she could get a pay raise on account of him being famous. Said in jest, it cracked the moment of tension between the two, further propelled by him agreeing with her under pressure.

According to the Olympics New Zealand team’s website, Lewis Clareburt is a “swimming World Champion, Olympic finalist and four-time Commonwealth Games medalist.” He has been a member of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth teams since his first competition at the Bahamas Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017, where he bagged seven medals. He first competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, where he reached the finals of the 400m IM and 200m IM — he was placed seventh and eighth, respectively. He also competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After watching the video, here’s what people have to say: @radishhgirl wrote, “I like how he didn’t want to come right out and say it but let you get there yourself,” and @oriental.sweet expressed, “Love how he’s so humble about this, like most guys would be bragging from the start lol but he gives off such green flag energy.” @yourpalhenry2007 guessed, “He probably loved that. A lot of famous people like it when they aren’t recognized and they get to be human,” while @reneeschaefer jokingly commented, “Beef… milk? Not just regular milk? I have never in my life heard it called beef milk, that makes it sound so disgusting, but I am lactose intolerant, so there’s that.”