BOSTON -- Haile Gebrselassie's bid to break the world record at 3,000 meters fell well short on Saturday, but the featured race at the Adidas Boston Indoor Games was worth the wait.

Not since he won the 10,000 meters at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics had the Ethiopian legend run in the States. To hear it from him, the man with nine world titles, two Olympic gold medals and 18 world records on his resume still considered the race a highlight.

"It was a thrill for me to be here," said Gebrselassie, who won the event in 7 minutes, 35.24 seconds, well off the mark of 7:24.90 set by Kenya's Daniel Komen. "It was like a homecoming. I had no idea it would be like this."

It is a cool rarity to see a track meet with this kind of buzz.

The Reggie Lewis Center in Boston's Roxbury suburb only seats about 4,000 people.

Roughly half an hour before the start of the evening meet, organizers looked at the line stretching around the corner of the building and told those shivering in the queue that there was simply no room left inside. Some were disappointed walk-ups; others had tickets in hand and couldn't have cared less for the speech about fire regulations the policeman with a bullhorn was giving them. There was a sense that they were about to miss something special inside.

Two hours later, the backstraight of the arena was awash in red, green and gold Ethiopian flags. It was a testament to how much of a giant the 5-foot, 3-inch runner is considered in his native land and how track athletes are revered in other parts of the world. I asked one flagholder how many Ethiopians lived in the area.

"Not many," he told me. "A thousand or something, but we are all here."

One by one, the other 16 runners in the field jogged to start line after their introductions, but the drumroll started and the lights dimmed for the last runner. Gebrselassie is uncommon in the way he seems to smile or grimace at every turn, but he nodded several times at specific spectators as he made his way to the start. The arena's confines allow for such intimacy -- Lane 8 of the track and row 1 of the seats are separated by six or seven feet.

Gebrselassie spent the first half of the race on record pace as he and countrymen Markos Geneti and David Lelei pulled away from the pack. Lelei finished his pacesetting duties at 1,800 meters and left the final laps to Gebrselassie, who was struggling with the dry air.

"I felt it in here," he said later, reaching for his chest. "I was becoming very tight."

With 400 meters to go and the record out of reach, Gebrselassie cruised in, still running with an easy gait. His trademark has always been a lethal finishing kick, which he had to save for another day.

Nobody really knew it was possible to run the final 200 meters of a 10K race in 22 seconds until Geb started doing it when he won world outdoor championships every other year from 1993 to 1999.

In the History's-Greatest-Distance-Runner discussions that track aficionados like to have, it is what often sets him apart from champions of other generations -- such as Paavo Nurmi and Emil Zatopek -- and has enabled him to win world titles in races from 1,500 meters to the half marathon.

After he crossed the line, Gebrselassie collected some gifts -- flags, flowers, a scarf in the Ethiopian colors -- and made his way to a press conference. He insisted he would be back someday, probably to run the Boston Marathon. He reaffirmed his plans to finish his last season on the track this summer before eyeing one quadrennium on the roads.

"I want to see how I do in the world's great marathon races," he said.

His one attempt, a 2:06:34 result in London two years ago, was then the fastest debut marathon ever run. The annual Boston race, over a century old, is run on a slow, hilly course known more for its history than for fast times.

"They really know their running here," he said. "Maybe I can make it fast."

To be fair, it took a sponsor's urging, as it often does in these days of track, to bring him to Boston. Gebrselassie is also sponsored by Adidas, and his manager Jos Hermans was pretty forthright is suggesting that this appearance was for them.

"They didn't push him," Hermans told me, "It isn't in his contract. But to come all this way from Addis for 22 hours and have two days preparation for the race, well, he is fulfilling his responsibility."

Despite claims that groin and hamstring injuries were what reduced Gebrselassie, 30, to bronze and silver medals at the last two world championships, it is also possible that he is fighting a losing transition from being the preeminent distance runner of his generation to be being merely very good.

If so, it isn't an ugly transition, as it is with many athletes. Gebrselassie still wins most of his races. He still has a joyful comportment that allows him a rare connection with his supporters. He is still one of the few athletes in a struggling sport who packs a buzz. He owns several businesses back home and has a political career waiting for him once he retires.

After the press conference, he took a final jog to the far end of the track and took the microphone. "Thank you, everyone," he said. "Hello, Boston and hello, Ethiopia." The visitor seemed at home.

Sports Illustrated staff writer Brian Cazeneuve covers Olympic sports for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.