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Immaterial of the result, Max Whitlock had said that this was the end.
Just 60 seconds between him, retirement and the end to an illustrious Olympics career which began in 2012, spanned four Games and had brought three titles and three bronze medals.
But there was to be no third gold nor seventh medal as he came up just short in the final pommel horse routine of his career.
Instead, gold went to Ireland’s Rhys McClenaghan as Whitlock finished in the slightly alien position of fourth having sought a hat-trick of titles on this particular apparatus. It was a first Olympic medal from Ireland ever in the sport of gymnastics.
Whitlock had spoken in the build-up to Paris of the unforgiving nature of this particular discipline, saying: “You get one shot”.
Of his attempt at that shot, he said in the aftermath: “I’m disappointed. I of course didn’t want it to finish that way. I would have liked this chapter to end a little bit better but it wasn’t to be. It wasn’t my day today.”
He patted his hands and acknowledged the crowd’s applause before a routine which started well enough but into which errors crept in, particularly to the upgrade he’d done to his routine for the final.
So tight are the margins, as he finally dismounted his face said he knew the score was not close to being enough for gold and he hugged his coach Scott Hann tightly in the immediate aftermath.
His score of 15.200 put him second out of just two to have gone and he had an anxious wait as each competitor followed.
It was American Stephen Nedoroscik who eventually knocked him out of medal contention, Whitlock kicking himself about the errors and wishing he could have a second chance to correct them.
He looked to have walked away from the sport in the aftermath of the Tokyo Games but said he felt like a complete failure when he did so and was coaxed back, partly with a competitive point to prove but also to perform for his daughter Willow.
The six-year-old was in the stands at Bercy Arena, supposedly the loudest of supporters according to Whitlock’s Team GB team-mates when it came to qualifying. And a child’s cry sounded just before he took to the apparatus during the final.
The one positive, he said, to his fourth place was being able to perform it in front of his daughter. “For me, that’s one of the best feelings about making it to Paris - to give that feeling to my family, to come to see me in my last Games,” he said.
As for how he wanted to be remembered, he said it was not for the past glories but what he did next, primarily pushing gymnastics in schools across the UK.
At 31, Whitlock still ends his career as Britain’s most successful gymnast and said the sport was in safe hands with Jake Jarman, whom he has tipped to be a future Olympic champion.
Jarman could not quite manage that in the floor competition which was the first of three finals on Saturday.
It was a first-ever gold by a Filipino male in any Olympic sport as the diminutive Carlos Yulo won from Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat with Jarman completing the podium with the bronze.
Jarman’s talent was spotted by a gymnastics coach when the hyperactive child was taken to the local park by his grandmother, who would then drive him to and from training each day with his parents at work.
After his bronze, Jarman said: “I’m lost for words to be honest. This medal means everything to me. I’ve had a lot of people in my life that helped me to get where I am today.
“I couldn’t do it without the support they gave to me. I hope I made a lot of people proud. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier.”
In the other final of the day, Simone Biles sealed a third title in Paris as she comfortably beat Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade for vault gold. Biles has the opportunity to go for two more golds on Monday.
