Chris Bennett said Glasgow 2026 had given him the "proudest moment" of his career, as he bowed out of athletics.
The Shaftesbury/Shettleston Harriers athlete finished with a Commonwealth personal best in the hammer, throwing 69.8m - up from the 66.48m he threw at the Games in Birmingham in 2022.
The former British champion said that finishing his journey in his home city was "emotional, but fun," after 24 years in the sport.
"I get to retire at home," he said. "I go out at the top at a Commonwealth Games, competing for my country, in front of the people I love. It means everything to me. "
The 36-year-old, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, made a surprise return to the sport after initially retiring in 2023. There was no doubting his ability, however, as he eased through the qualifying process to bag a spot at his fourth Commonwealth Games.
"When I was trying to come back for the Games, I was like: "What happens if I don't make it?" I would have been comfortable with myself, but I wouldn't have had that book-ending. To do so here in Glasgow, is very special.
"I just thought that whether I finish last or whether I win, I get to have my moment."
In the end, Bennett came away in a respectable fifth place finish, his most successful yet in a Commonwealth Games competition. He's now adamant he has no regrets about putting himself back in the equation, in the place it all started out for him.
"My first ever session was here in Glasgow 24 years ago and you can't get better than that. It's the right time to finish.
"I first watched athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The hammer was on the TV and the guy that won it did a front flip after the throw. I thought: "I'm going to go and do that, that's quite cool".
"I went down to Scotstoun stadium to my local athletics club, and that was really my first experience of athletics. The thing for me was that there were lots of people from different backgrounds there and I just felt socially accepted. I never felt like that at school.
"I didn't actually have my first hammer competition until 2003, a year later. It was the West District Championship, I threw 21m and I got a bronze medal. I was totally buzzing and over the moon about it. That was the first proper medal I'd ever won, so I really cherished it."
Bennett says his Commonwealth Games aspirations didn't fully kick in until just before the Games in Delhi in 2010, because he "never felt good enough to get there". But his coach was adamant he should give the experience a shot.
"That's probably when I realised I could get to a Commonwealth Games, and with the added incentive of it being in Glasgow back in 2014, it became a big goal for me.
"The guy who had won the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 actually ended up coaching me in Glasgow in 2014. So it was a really full circle moment. "
Bennett may not have had the 2014 Games he would have wanted - finishing in last position - but he insists he has "no regrets" about any of his time in Commonwealth competition.
He said: " I went to the Commonwealth Games in 2014 ranked 5th, but actually finished 12th and dead last. I remember leaving the stadium in floods of tears that night.
"But I wouldn't have gone to an Olympics if I hadn't finished 12th at a Commonwealth Games. If I'd won a medal in Glasgow, which is what I wanted to do, I probably would have been a big-headed idiot with an ego the size of an elephant. I really wouldn't change anything for the world. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. "
His departure from athletics wraps up a solid career which includes appearances at the Glasgow, Gold Coast and Birmingham Commonwealth Games, as well an Olympic Games in Rio, 2016.
"Making this team has made me prouder than anything in my career," he said.
"It's the Commonwealth Games in Scotland. I've loved being back. I've probably had the most fun I've had at a Games. It has given me the "ending" that I never had before, and I'm very proud of my performance."
