Brent Folan(RIO DE JANEIRO) — If selfie-snapping was an Olympic sport, Brent Folan would be swimming in gold medals.
The 25-year-old sports superfan from Fort Worth, Texas, took time off work and headed to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics determined to takes selfies with as many athletes and celebrities as possible.
He accomplished that, and photobombed a few shots, as well.
Even before he left his native Lone Star State, Folan snapped a picture with U.S. sprinter Allyson Felix.
Luck was certainly on Folan’s side as he scoured Rio and documented his encounters on Instagram using the hashtag #FindFolanRio2016.
He snagged photos with a slew of athletes, including the first gold medalist of the games, American shooter Virginia Thrasher, the entire U.S. women’s gymnastics team, beach volleyball duo April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings, and gold medal golfer Justin Rose.
Folan also landed selfies with swimmer Ryan Murphy and his USA Swimming teammates, except one: Michael Phelps.
Folan determined he would not be gold medal-worthy until he had a selfie with Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time. With his flight from Rio de Janeiro back home to Texas looming, Folan called his boss and requested an extra three days of vacation to extend his trip in hopes of a Phelps photo-op.
“Phelps is like my white buffalo,” Folan told ABC News’ T.J. Holmes. “He’s the reason why I skipped my flight home.”
ABC News’ Good Morning America came to the aid of Folan, arranging a chance for him to meet Phelps.
Phelps did one better, sneaking up behind Folan as the selfie king was explaining how to take a selfie and photobombing Folan’s shot.
“Oh, no way,” Folan exclaimed at the sight of Phelps. “This is not real.”
“I just photobombed you,” Phelps replied, while also revealing that he saw Folan at a swimming event, to which Folan wore an eye-catching American flag onesie.
“You can’t forget the suit,” Phelps said. “It’s awesome getting support and there’s no better way to get a lot of attention than just going all out and it’s great to see and we love it.”
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