It was a Saturday afternoon in May at the home ground of German football club Carl Zeiss Jena - and who could have known it would become part of athletics history.
There was a decent crowd dotted around the venue, some sitting, some standing, for an early season meeting in a summer where everything was building towards the showpiece of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
There was cloud in the air, a brief bit of sun, a breeze and then, suddenly, one of the most astonishing world records in the history of track and field.
At first not all eyes were on the javelin where the Czech Republic's Olympic and double world champion Jan Zelezny was ready to throw because other stars were in action, such as Sally Gunnell, Great Britain's Olympic 400m hurdles champion who was racing for the first time that year.
Zelezny's name was announced. The fans started clapping, his run-up began and when he fell as he launched the spear, it looked like it would never come down from the skies.
When it did eventually drop, it landed at an amazing 98.48m, an incredible world record.
While East Germany's Uwe Hohn had thrown 104.8m in 1984 and Finland's Seppo Raty had reached 96.96m in 1991, these were no longer the leading marks since the IAAF had brought in new specifications for the javelin and had not allowed serrated tails.
Zelezny himself had held the world record of 95.66m, but now he was in a different league.
Yesterday, May 25th, was the 20th anniversary of that moment at the Ernst Abbe Sportfeld and since then no one has come close to beating the distance.
Recalling that day this week, Zelezny revealed he did not even feel the throw reached perfection.
'I could imagine a better throw, better work with my back but the surface was fast, good wind and my top shape,' he said.
'For 100 metres I would need better technique. But I believe one day somebody will throw it.
'Of course I would not like it when I will lose the record, those who say they do not mind are maybe not saying the truth.'
Yet with a laugh, Zelezny, now a coach, added: 'But there is an exemption, in case it would be one of my throwers.'
Zelezny really was in the form of his life that summer. A few weeks later he threw 94.64m in Ostrava and then retained his Olympic title in Atlanta before making it a hat-trick in Sydney in 2000.
In the time that has passed, Finland's Aki Parvianen has moved to second on the world rankings with 93.09m from Kuortane in 1999 while Julius Yego threw 92.72m in Beijing last summer when he became the first Kenyan to win gold in a field event at the world championships.
But as for 94 metres, 95 metres, let alone 98 metres, they remain the property of Jan Zelezny…a day into decade number three.
ZELEZNY'S TOP THROWS1. 98.48m - Jena, May 25 1996
2. 95.66m - Sheffield, Aug 29, 1993
3. 95.54mA - Pietersburg, Apr 6, 1993
4. 94.64m - Ostrava, May 31, 1996
5. 94.02m - Stellenbosch, Mar 26, 1997