Gregory's Server
When I heard he came 13th (out of ALL THE PARTICUPATING POPULATIONS OF THE OLYMPICS) soon after first seeing the image, I figured that was an excellent end-result.
Not that I disagree with your reading, but 13th in Olympics is really great. And I felt the story wasn't necessarily about being the best in the world, but one of those always popular "John Henry vs. piledriver" -stories, where the piledriver was the ultragimmicky stuff the young were wearing on some other sports.