Equally awesome writing on another example, Roger Federer[1], by David Foster Wallace, a MacArthur guy and one of my favorite 3 writers ever:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20fede...

Sorry for the non-hacker content, but since the article's already here, no harm in commenting I suppose.

[1] Federer is, I would contend, the world's pre-eminent physical genius, though I don't know any brain surgeons.

Old, but fabulous. Stellar writing, even by Gladwell's standards.