“It’s just so different than the typical path,” Mark Schubert, the venerated, longtime Olympic swimming coach, told The Washington Post in 2009 about Knutson.

But when France’s government returned “Portrait of a Man” to Schubert’s family on Monday, her tears could not have been more genuine.

“It was an eye-opening experience for him, especially when football season came around and he was watching his teammates,” said Kim Schubert, his mother.