The goal of Linux was not performance, it was to create a free OS. The fact that it has become a high quality performant OS is a side-benefit (driven by external commercial factors, much later in its development timeline).
I'm not sure that was even the goal. Seems Linus just wanted to create it for the hell of it, didn't think it was going anywhere, and released it as free software just because... From everything I've read of the history of Linux it seems it was mostly an accident (a pleasant one) of history. (I use Linux BTW)
