His[sic] person who uploaded the video, who appears to be Ellis' father, wrote in his description that the photobomb was not the only surprise welcome they staged that day.
Athletes are celebrated just for competing. Russian gymnast Anna Pavlova, who recorded an imperfect 0.00 for one of her vault attempts, could try to land a photobomb of herself mugging in the background of all those photos that will be taken of Phelps lugging around his gold.
Today, the photo can be labelled a photobomb, which implies a narrative of surreptitious sabotage, connects the stingray to a whole tribe of obnoxious pranksters, and makes the ray look like his smile might contain a hint of frat-boyish dissolution.
Verb: "to unexpectedly appear in a photograph, especially so as to ruin the picture"[edit]
Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet snuck into a few snapshots too, photobombing some of the other celebs and making funny faces.
2012 — Chris Cannon & Brian Calvert, America, But Better: The Canada Party Manifesto, Douglas & McIntyre (2012), →ISBN, page 23:
For many, Speed Voting will present an exciting chance to smell a millionaire. For others, an opportunity to photobomb a soon-to-be-jailed United States senator.
2012 — Brad Getty, Dads Are the Original Hipsters, Chronicle Books (2012), →ISBN, page 112:
Your dad photobombed before you did and his friends have the pictures to prove it.
2012 — Let's Go Budget Rome, Let's Go Publications (2012), →ISBN, pages 57-58:
Or you could just grab a beer from a side street cafe and photobomb the fountain pictures of unsuspecting tourists.
2012 — Caryn Rose, Raise Your Hand: Adventures of an American Springsteen Fan in Europe, Till Victory Press (2012), →ISBN, unnumbered pages:
European fans were not perfect, and had their own list of annoyances and sins against other fans: Dutch fans blatantly cut in front of me, Italian fans held places for their friends with numbers 800 and higher, a British woman with a fox puppet photobombed every person behind her, trying to get the band's attention, […]