The 37-year-old overcame some initial wobbles at the Messe convention complex to perform near his best to claim not one, but four silver medals.
The final dead lift of 152.5kg had the packed crowd on their feet as Stewart literally pulled every ounce of power from his body, only for the judges to disallow the attempt.
When asked if he was disappointed over the final attempt, Stewart said "nah, I had to give it a go and had nothing to lose."
He is a regular at Special Olympics, as well as in the mainstream powerlifting circuit, and is used to performing in front of crowds, but the boisterous scenes at the powerlifting arena were at another level for the World Games debutant.
Coach Sonia Manaema thought the whole occasion and the crowd got to Stewart a bit on the first squat attempt.
"But we had a good chat after that first attempt to remind him to listen to the coaches on stage and after that he was great."
Following the failed first lift, he recovered to lift 102.5kg, then bench-pressed 72.5kg before lifting 145kg in the deadlift.
His mother Lynne Stewart said he had been part of the Special Olympics for 18 years, initially in rowing and tenpin bowling, "because in those days, Special Olympics did not do powerlifting". Once the sport was added to the Special Olympics roster, he took to it like a duck to water.
