I should clarify that I'm not saying the "Genius" story completely applies here. I disagree with the quote's presentation of the project (particularly the cherry-picking of Jason Dyer; most of the non-anonymous/pseudonymous contributors had some advanced training, as far as I can tell). While I agree with lukeprog's conclusion, I definitely think there are better illustrations of this process in action.

Gowers and Tao's prestige might have acted more as a symmetry-breaker, identifying THIS as the hub that is likely going to eventually be the place to be.

Certainly, but they also substantially contributed to the project as well.