Guess the Legendary Athlete
Fifteen of the biggest names in sport, from boxing rings to Formula One, all hidden under foil.
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Fifteen of the biggest names in sport, from boxing rings to Formula One, all hidden under foil.
Retired and late greats rather than this season's stars: footballers, basketball players, boxers, a sprinter, a swimmer and a racing driver. They are here because their faces travelled much further than their sport ever did. People who have never watched a basketball game still know what Michael Jordan looks like.
Ten of the photographs are in the public domain and five carry Creative Commons licences. For those five the photographer, the licence and the fact that the picture was cropped are all named under the answer, because that is what the licence asks for.
Among the names you will meet here: Muhammad Ali, Pelé, Michael Jordan, Ayrton Senna and Usain Bolt.
Sports photographs are not portraits. People are mid shout, mid stride, soaked in sweat, or wearing something across half their head. That cuts both ways. An expression can give someone away in an instant, and it can also make a face you know perfectly well completely unreadable.
The footballers are the trap in this group. Pelé, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff were all photographed young, in similar light, with similar hair, and at a low reveal they collapse into the same dark haired man.
Look for what the sport does to a body rather than at the face itself. A boxer's nose, a sprinter's shoulders and a swimmer's neck are each doing half the work before you have uncovered a single eye.
Your score is 100 minus the percentage of the card you scratched. A wrong name scores nothing at all, however little you used. The full rules, the badge bands and an explanation of why the picture stays blurry are on the main page.