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ATHENS - This was to be his night. When he passed not just the fastest men in the world, but the fastest in history, too.
Maurice Greene had been telling us he was the greatest sprinter of all time, and on this night, he was going to make us acknowledge it.
Which brings us to this:
Can history be decided by .02 of a second?
That was the margin between Greene's bronze and Justin Gatlin's gold Sunday night. And it is all that kept Greene from joining Carl Lewis as the only athletes with back-to-back Olympic titles at 100 meters.
You know, he already had everything else. Greene had four of the five fastest times in history. He had twice as many sub-10-second times than anyone else. He was a three-time world champion and a shameless self-promoter.
But, as an Olympic sprinter, he has as many gold medals as Linford Christie. Or Valeriy Bozov. Or a dozen other one-time champions.
So is he the greatest of all time?
"Yes I am," said the man wearing a bronze medal. "I've been at this for a long time, and you can put my stats, and everything I've done, up against every other sprinter that is before me."
It is not the sprinters before him who are the problem. For the longest time, Greene has done well chasing history. He had run down the memory of Jesse Owens. The deeds of Bob Hayes. In Greene's mind, he had not come across a ghost he could not beat.
But these days, Greene is not so swift as the guy in the next starting block. Other than his win over Gatlin by .01 at the Olympic Trials last month, Greene consistently has been in second or third place.
He's finished behind Gatlin. Behind silver medalist Francis Obikwelu. Behind Asafa Powell and Shawn Crawford.
Greene's times have been impressive - his 9.87 Sunday night matched his winning time in Sydney in 2000 - but his peers have been more impressive.
"I don't think I've passed (the mantle) just yet. I'm not done," Greene said. "(Gatlin) is up and coming, but I don't feel my time has passed."
Is it better to have conquered a clock, or dominated your era? Because that, ultimately, is the difference between acknowledging or dismissing Greene's status as history's greatest.
If you believe a sprinter is judged by the numbers he posts on a stopwatch, you would have to say no one has been better than Greene.
But if you believe a sprinter is better measured by his performance against his contemporaries, then Greene's case is lacking.
He was the dominant sprinter in the world from 1997 to 2001, but his career has been spotty since. Injuries can be blamed, but who can't say the same?
"I don't think there's another sprinter out there who has accomplished the things I have," Greene said. "I'm looking hard for the next person to come along who can do things better than me. I'm making it hard for them.
"So, until then, I'll be the greatest."
At 30, Greene's career is not yet over. But the end is in sight, and there is little time remaining to work on his legacy.
Another Olympic title is unlikely. And regaining his world record might be done only if Tim Montgomery's mark is stripped.
Still, Greene carries on. Nothing as simple as defeat can slow him down. Not when he still has a voice to exercise and an audience to entertain.
While Gatlin was doing a victory lap around Olympic Stadium, Greene was doing his own goodwill tour of blown kisses and waves.
You have to admit, it's hard not to like the guy. His conceit is playful, his arrogance bearable. He is the type who can have G.O.A.T. - Greatest of All Time - tattooed on his shoulder and get away with it.
He is that audacious. That full of himself. And that playful.
The tattoo is permanent.
You can decide for yourself whether the title is.