It seemed rather fitting that up in the rarefied hills of Izu, under the shadow of Mount Fuji, that legend was made.
In this remote outpost of these Games, a super-fast Shinkansen and long and winding bus journey from Tokyo, Jason Kenny did what he does best, riding his bike faster than anyone else and making history.
They take keirin racing seriously in Japan, indeed this velodrome is the national school for the close-quarters sprint race in which thrills and spills are measured equally.
Can you believe that ride?!
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 8, 2021
Take a bow, @JasonKenny107 #TeamGB pic.twitter.com/LjnEO9vnwP
The keirin was invented as a betting sport here and when the money is down, punter's pal Kenny usually delivers, even if he'd given himself a distinctly underwhelming pre-race report card.
After progressing through the rounds he found himself in the six-man final, team-mate Jack Carlin, the bronze medallist in the men's sprint, eliminated in the semi-finals.
Kenny sprung clear from rivals with three laps to go and hammered down the power, catching them all napping and he opened up a huge advantage, tactical genius of quite breathtaking audacity.
By the last lap they were closing fast but Kenny was sniffing history and smelling the finish line.
"We said just before the start, if they're asleep, shall we just launch one - and that's exactly what happened," he said.
"I really didn't want to go to be honest but I looked, and it was too big of an opportunity not to try, so I just rolled the dice.
"Going into that final, I didn't really feel like one of the favourites. I wouldn't have been betting on myself personally but you have to be ready to take your chances and a massive chance came along."
This 'Made in Japan' in discipline seems rather appropriate to move Kenny into sole ownership of more Olympic golds - and more Olympic medals - than anyone else.
He now has seven golds, one more than Sir Chris Hoy, and nine medals, one more than Sir Bradley Wiggins and that's more than Slovenia, Algeria, Portugal, Lithuania, Morocco and the Bahamas.
Indeed if he and wife Laura - five golds - were a country they'd be ahead of Latvia, population 1.9 million, on the all-time medal table.
It's rather nice to imagine Kennyland, with a benevolent King Kenny on the throne, a country much in the image of its ruling couple - successful, inspiring and thoroughly down to earth, the national currency quite obviously gold, silver and no bronze.
And it would certainly be a nation admired by its neighbours. Note the way the others on the podium, Malaysia's Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and the Netherland's Harrie Lavreysen, hoisted Kenny on their shoulders after the race.
“It's special, really special. It just comes down to keep chipping away really and I've been really lucky," said Kenny.
"I owe all of my success to being in the right place at the right time, when British Cycling was just starting to get really successful.
"It's just nice to be compared to those guys that I grew up admiring, it's really special to be on the same page as them.
"I'm really proud to be part of what has been another successful Olympics for us as a team. I've just been lucky that all of my Olympics have been good ones."
🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈@JasonKenny107 our greatest Olympian 🇬🇧
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 8, 2021
More medals and golds than any other British athlete in history.#TeamGB pic.twitter.com/rtbi9KjK9i
Despite his now peerless status in British Olympic sport, Kenny knows that his wife still boasts the star power, though a heavy fall in the defence of her omnium title meant on this particular day in Tokyo, he could hog the headlines.
"She's nicer than me and she's also infinitely better looking," he joked.
"She's just a very inspiring character and totally lovely, which I guess is why I married her. I'm just a bit boring and just focus on racing."
The wife of Britain's most successful Olympian - who happens to the Britain's most successful woman Olympian - hobbled from the velodrome but still leaves Japan with a gold and a silver.
“Last night Jason said to me, win a gold medal and we can make a clock with 12 golds on it - then he goes and does that, he’s just unbelievable,” she said.
“Having Albie has been the best achievement of my life but there was a moment I thought I’d written my own career off, so to come away with a gold from these Games, it’s been unbelievable.
“I’ve proved to myself that it’s doable. Hopefully other people debating having a child and a career, I think it proves that you can do it.”
It seems betting against the Kenny family is not a sensible punt to take.