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ATHENS - The podium was unfamiliar. Shorter than those to which he had become accustomed. And the place in history was all wrong. Clearly not the destination he had chased across a decade.
To Pyrros Dimas, only the backdrop was right.
He had made it home.
One of the most decorated athletes in Greek history enjoyed one of the grandest sendoffs the Olympics have known Saturday night.
Dimas failed in an attempt to be the first weightlifter to win gold medals in four Games, instead finishing his career with bronze.
But his final moments on an Olympic podium were stretched by an ovation that began at hysteria, segued into passionate and refused to conclude.
For close to five minutes, the standing-room only crowd at the Nikea Weightlifting Hall serenaded Dimas with chants and songs.
He alternately waved to the rafters and placed his hand across his heart in a gesture of gratitude. When it was clear the cheering would not stop, Dimas bowed his head and appeared to wipe away tears.
Eventually, with the noise continuing, the medal ceremony continued with the silver-medal winner stepping to the podium without introduction from the public address announcer.
Olympic champion George Asanidze of Georgia was asked what it was like to be upstaged by the bronze-medal winner.
"Pyrros Dimas is not a bronze medalist," Asanidze said. "He is a three-time Olympic champion, and this is why they cheered."
Dimas, 32, is a legend in Greece. His face is on billboards, his name is on a soccer stadium. Born in Albania, he left the former Communist country in the early 1990s to come to Greece, the home of his grandparents.
He won his first gold medal in 1992 in Barcelona, shouting "For Greece" on the winning lift.
The flag bearer at Opening Ceremonies in 1996 in Atlanta and last week in Athens, Dimas had dropped out of the international scene for three years after the Sydney Games because of injuries.
He almost didn't make it to the competition, having had knee surgery three months ago and going to the hospital Monday with a sore wrist.
"The Greeks knew this was actually my last match, that I withdraw from competition," Dimas said through an interpreter. "So they showed their love and affection for me, and I thank them dearly for that."
It was, thus far, the grandest moment for the host country. The Games, thus far, have not been kind to Greece. Two Greek athletes attempted suicide in the days before the Opening Ceremonies. Two more withdrew after skipping drug tests and evading doping officials for days.
Venues have been half-filled, and merchants have complained the windfall has been much smaller than anticipated.
The sight of Dimas on a medal podium - any medal podium - was a welcome relief for a country of few sports heroes.
When the medal ceremony was completed, Dimas jogged to the stands to kiss his wife. He embraced his three children - all wearing white T-shirts with No.4 printed on front and back for his gold-medal quest - and brought them on the medal podium as the crowd continued to sing and chant.
In the end, Dimas could not lift the required weight.
But, in a way, he did much more.
He moved a nation.