American swimmer Michael Phelps is a stroke from the wall in the 200-meter butterfly and his nemesis, South Africa’s Chad le Clos is behind, mid-stroke, looking directly at Phelps, the man who is about to beat him for the gold medal.
It’s a terrific photo, one of the more powerful imagines from the first week of the Olympics.
That happened on Tuesday.
The following day, during a practice round on the Olympic Golf Course, Justin Rose’s caddie, Mark Fulcher, showed his man the photo. Four days later, Rose was standing on the top of the podium with a gold medal draped around his neck.