One is the world's fastest sprinter, the other a portly, balding man on a runaway Segway. Usain Bolt never stood a chance.
As the Jamaican superstar celebrated beating his main rival, America's Justin Gatlin, in the 200m at the World Championships, the cameraman crept up by his side, unseen and unheard, during the victory lap.
And then, in a moment later replayed across the globe millions of times, it all went terribly wrong - the Segway careered into Bolt, knocking the champion to the ground as the Beijing crowd gasped in horror.
Bolt winced in pain and hobbled away, but quickly saw the funny side. “He tried to kill me! It was like 'you are winning too much, take him out!'“ he joked.
“The rumour I'm trying to start right now is that Justin Gatlin paid him off.
“I am fine, I have a few cuts but it's nothing I have never done to myself in training. It wasn't as bad. I feel like Justin Gatlin had something to do with it!”
Gatlin, who had trailed in nearly two-tenths of a second behind Bolt, quipped, “I want my money back” - as Bolt confirmed he would be fit for the 4x100m relay.
It wasn't hard to feel sorry for the cameraman.
As he approached on the Segway, he had eyes only for Bolt - in the flesh or through the lens - as he worked hard to get in position for the best shot.
And the athlete had eyes only for the adoring crowd as they joined in his celebrations. Both men were fulfilling their appointed roles to the best of their abilities, with neither realising what was about to happen.
The Segway drifted ever so slightly off course, mounted a rail - placed there for another camera to track the runners during a race - then suddenly performed a sharp turn and shot towards Bolt.
As the cameraman fell backwards, the Segway slammed into the back of Bolt's legs, sending him tumbling over backwards, too.
The camera went up in the air and landed on the hapless cameraman's head.
While Bolt performed a neat backwards roll and got to his feet, helped by an official, the stunned cameraman lay on the track as other officials strolled over to help him.
“I don't know who's come off worse there - obviously not Bolt,” said the BBC's commentator, who added: “You need to watch where you are going, mate.”
Runner's World magazine pointed out that the incident was one of a string of strange events at the Beijing championships.
These include the Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown starting her 200m heat in lane five and winning the race in lane six.
Despite leaving her lane, she was allowed to progress to the semi-finals because she did not impede the lane five runner - Great Britain's Margaret Adeoye.
In a separate incident, the Polish hammer thrower Pawel Fajdek was forced to deny claims that he got drunk after winning his event and had paid for a taxi ride with his gold medal.
Fajdek, 26, denied the reports in local media, saying that after he posed for a photograph, the driver “probably drove off with the medal unknowingly”.
The police helped track down the driver, who appears to have been happy to return the medal. – The Independent