With the recent news that Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, will again host Olympic equestrian events at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, we’re looking back at the 1984 Olympic Games. While the U.S. dressage team didn’t experience the medal-winning glory of its show jumping and eventing counterparts, the Games were nonetheless chock full of memorable moments: Reiner Klimke and Ahlerich winning team and individual gold and treating ecstatic fans to a victory lap filled with one-handed tempi changes, piaffe, passage and extended trot; a young Robert Dover contesting his first Olympic Games and an aging Thorougbred Keen contesting his last; as well as delightful side stories like Swiss pharmaceutical packaging salesman Otto Hofer, who handled his pre-show nerves by taking his family to Disneyland and then won an unexpected individual bronze. Read John Strassburger’s Chronicle report from Aug. 17, 1984, to relive the excitement.

After the first day of the Olympic team dressage competition on Wednesday, Aug. 8, 1984, the heavily favored West German team was in trouble. Their first rider, Herbert Krug on Muscadeur, had scored (for him) a mediocre 1,575 (63%) for a test lacking in energy and riddled with mistakes. There seemed to be a hole in the German armor.

The Swiss, meanwhile, who weren’t expected to get a medal because Christine Stuckelberger’s ’76 Olympic and ’78 World Champion, Granat, had been retired, were the interim leaders. Stuckelberger had scored 1,606 (64.24%) points on the young Tansanit, competing in only his third international Grand Prix, and Otto Hofer, the eventual individual bronze medalist, had scored 1,609 (64.36%) on Limandus. Denmark was second, due mostly to Marzog’s 1,701 (68.04%) despite a labored and disappointing test, and the United States was third.

Although his two best riders were yet to go, West German coach Harry Boldt must have been worried on Wednesday night. Uwe Sauer’s performance early the next afternoon couldn’t have done much to ease his mind either. Although a member of last year’s European Championship team and international veteran, Sauer’s test contained more mistakes than energy, and his score of 1,582 (63.28%) meant the Germans trailed the Swiss by 58 points after two riders.

Boldt needn’t have worried, though. The night before, five-time Olympian Reiner Klimke had promised to score over 1,750 points, so Boldt let him go out to dinner instead of early to bed. Klimke made up for any lost sleep by taking an hour-long nap before his test. If he felt any pressure, he didn’t show it.

“Because of the heat. I first had in mind to ride a sure test today and ride hard tomorrow [in the Grand Prix Special],” Klimke, a 48-year-old notary, said. “But my chef d’equipe and trainer told me to make a good impression for the team.”

To say Klimke made a good impression is like saying Beethoven was a songwriter. Herr Doktor Klimke nailed it. The sensitive Ahlerich’s eyes were wide when he entered the noisy stadium, but Klimke just kept working him.

They proceeded to produce a lesson in dressage, a test that made you say, “That’s how it’s supposed to be.” So smooth, so light, so active, right down to the last halt, which had to have been a 10. A horse can’t halt any squarer or stand any stiller.

Klimke knew he had just won his fourth team gold as he left the ring to an appreciative roar from the 22,000 fans. “I try to ride in dressage so the spectators must look,” the gray-haired and soft-spoken Klimke said after receiving a score of 1,797 (71.88%). “In this test [Grand Prix], this was his best ever. In our tryouts in Salve in the Grand Prix Special he was the same.”

Sauer and Krug had no explanation for their subpar scores, although others speculated on nerves because this was the first Olympic appearance for both and the Germans were expected to win easily. “I was happy with my horse but not with my result.” was the comment by both riders.

“Maybe we can reconstruct it with the judges’ papers [tests],” said Chef d’Equipe Anton Fischer. Nevertheless, both qualified for the individual final.

Joy In Switzerland

The three Swiss riders were overjoyed with their silver medal, even though Amy-Catherine de Bary on Aintree had received only 1,458 (58.32%) points for a heavy and mistake-filled test. De Bary would have needed a score of 1,741 to beat the Germans. but in finishing ahead of third-placed Sweden and fifth-placed Denmark they reversed the order at the Lausanne, Switzerland, CDI in May. Stuckelberger attributed this to a new line-up and improved performances.

“The problem was we had another team in Lausanne,” said the blonde and always polite 37-year-old. “Amy-Catherine was not on the team [Doris Ramseier was the third member], and she did a better test [here] than [Doris]. My horse did not have a good test there. My horse did so much better here and Limandus went about the same. So with Amy-Catherine we did better.”

Stuckelberger also said they seriously considered bringing Granat, now 20, out of retirement for the Olympics. However, he wasn’t needed. “We knew [last winter] that Transanit had never done a Grand Prix, but in February our chef d’equipe came to see me and he didn’t believe me that I was riding Granat because he looked so good,” she said. “He told me I had to keep him fit to be the reserve horse.”

The Swedes also put two riders into the individual final as their team of Ulla Hakanson. a member of the ’72 bronze-medal team, Ingamay Bylund and Louise Nathhorst won a close contest for the bronze. The Swedish total of 4,630 put them only 44 points ahead of Holland, 56 ahead of Denmark and 71 ahead of the U.S.

Although there had been hope the U.S. might duplicate its ’76 bronze medal, the team’s sixth-place finish has to be seen as a positive sign, especially when you recall that just two years ago they beat only the Bulgarians in the World Championships. At Santa Anita, the American team, with the exception of the Germans, was the only team to have three riders score over 1,500 points.

Robert Dover and Romantico led off for the U.S. on the hot and smog-filled afternoon. Romantico was forward and brilliant at the trot and passage as usual but got stuck in each piaffe and made some mistakes at canter. Afterward, Dover looked exhausted. “I think the high points were in the extensions and some of the passage work,” he said between drinks of water. “And the piaffe work would have been fine too, had I been able to get out of the piaffe. When people clap for him, he likes to piaffe naturally, so I think that’s why he kept getting stuck.”

Coach George Theodorescu pointed out that although Dover is one of the top riders in the U.S., he is a complete novice in international competition. “Altogether it was a very good test, especially for someone who has never been in this ring before,” Theodorescu said. “If you don’t have much experience in international shows you want to do the best you can, especially for your team. But sometimes when you do more you get less, and when you do less you get more.”

Coach George Theodorescu pointed out that although Dover is one of the top riders in the U.S., he is a complete novice in international competition. “Altogether it was a very good test, especially for someone who has never been in this ring before,” said Theodorescu.

By the time Sandy Pfleuger-Clarke went it was practically dark and considerably cooler, much to Marco Polo’s advantage. Pfleuger-Clarke, an experienced international competitor in both dressage and three-day, put forth a highly professional test to keep the U.S. in the hunt by scoring 1,516 points (60.64%). All but two transitions were crisp and accurate, and the test as a whole was smooth and forward.

Like Dover, Pfleuger-Clarke looked drained after her ride. “I liked the end of it better than the beginning. He was a bit more settled and easier to ride,” she said. “For the Grand Prix it was definitely the best one this spring—there were much fewer mistakes.”

Pfleuger-Clarke added that after seeing how tough the Swiss were, she doubted the U.S. could get the bronze. Nevertheless, when Hilda Gurney and her ’76 hero, Keen, entered the ring, it looked as if a score in the high 1,500s might do it. The 17.2-hand chestnut was also smooth and forward, but he missed a one-time change and sometimes appeared irregular in the half-pass to the right or at the passage.

The score (1,530 or 61.20%), although the best on the team, was disappointing to Gurney.

“Good test, disappointing score. I was very pleased with the test,” she said in her usual staccato sentences. “I hoped I would make the ride-off [as she had in Montreal by placing fourth], but when you’ve been out of international competition for a while and the judges haven’t seen you, it’s hard to come back.”

Gurney was asked to compare this test to the now almost legendary Montreal test, which the late Bengt Ljundquist, then the coach, called the best test Keen had ever done. “That was so long ago,” she responded. “I don’t think the judges have the confidence in him that they used to. I think an older horse has to prove himself more than a younger horse. We’ll take him to Europe this fall to show him, which I wish I could have done before [the Olympics], but he wasn’t fit enough.”

The Master Does It Again

Although two former individual gold medalists qualified for the Grand Prix Special on Friday, neither of them came close to repeating. Elisabeth Max-Theurer of Austria, the 1980 gold medalist and ’79 European Champion on Mon Cherie, finished 11th on Acapulco, a lovely chestnut who made mistakes at the trot and piaffe.

“He was a jumping horse before, and he did only a little flying changes and half-pass,” Max-Theurer said. “He did his first Grand Prix in about August, 1982. He was ready [for the Olympics], but there are some things I hope will improve.”

Stuckelberger was just pleased to qualify with her young horse and worried that he would once again find the Grand Prix Special too difficult. “He was eighth in the Grand Prix at Lausanne and 12th in the Grand Prix Special because we mixed everything up. Then we were seventh at Aachen but 12th again in the Special,” she said. Stuckelberger rode in her usual full-out style, but the 9-year-old Transanit appeared stiff and had trouble with the Special’s demanding transitions, mistakes that put the pair ninth.

One Swiss who didn’t make mistakes was 40-year-old Otto Hofer on Limandus. Hofer and the 14-year-old Dutch-bred rode a forward test with active and effortless passage and piaffe to gain the bronze medal well ahead of Ingamay Bylund on Aleks, Krug and Sauer. Hofer, who could hardly contain his joy either after the test or the awards, hugged his horse and wore an unflinching smile. “It’s unbelievable for me. To be better than the two Germans has happened never in my life. To be third—this makes me really happy,” he said. “I never thought I would win an individual medal. My wish was to be in the first 12, but yesterday when I was third, I thought it was possible.”

A businessman specializing in packaging systems for pharmaceutical products, Hofer had lost 20 pounds during the  last three months while training for the Olympics. However, he found the final preparation at Santa Anita too intense, so with his wife and three children he visited Los Angeles attractions like Disneyland and Marineland in an effort to relax.

Weight loss and relaxation must have worked. He was asked how long it would be before he took his medal off. “I’ll do it for my wife,” he said.

The expected showdown between Klimke’s Ahlerich, the current World Champion, and Anne-Grethe Jensen’s Marzog, Ahlerich’s conqueror in winning the ’83 European Championships, never really materialized. Early in the week rumors circulated that the beautifully built Danish horse was lame, but they were proven false when he jogged out sound at Monday morning’s vet check.

Nevertheless, the light bay Marzog performed disappointingly in the Grand Prix, at times looking stiff and labored. Jensen declined to talk to the press after her ride, saying through team captain Hanne Valentin she did not like to talk while the competition was still in progress. Valentin said Jensen, 33. had been nervous because of the great expectations everyone had for her and that the heat had bothered her but not Marzog.

Valentin also allowed that Marzog had made some uncharacteristic mistakes. “I was a little disappointed. I found too many faults today, but I have never seen the passage better for Marzog,” she said.

The judges liked the test enough to place the Danish pair second by a wide margin, showing how important reputation—or what Hilda Gurney called “confidence”—is in judging.

Marzog showed considerable improvement in his canter and piaffe work on Friday, going about two hours later than on Wednesday on a cooler and much clearer day. All in all, it was a more accurate and enjoyable effort, easily giving them the silver. “He did very well indeed. It was our very best to date,” Jensen said through Valentin. “Marzog felt better today and he was not disturbed by the spectators, and I didn’t feel the heat so much.”

Ahlerich and Klimke had gone just before, and it was probably a good thing Jensen couldn’t see Klimke’s test. It wouldn’t have given her much confidence. Although the 13-year-old Westphalian gelding wasn’t quite as brilliant as the day before, there wasn’t much to criticize either. Klimke was afraid Ahlerich wouldn’t be able to produce back-to-back show-stoppers, but the Special was a beautiful test too.

“I had to fight for it today,” Klimke said. And perhaps that is what makes Klimke so skillful—he never seems to be fighting. He looks calm, he looks determined. but it seems to happen without him doing anything. And the movements happen precisely where they should, the way they should. Klimke’s two tests were a joy to watch, and when he left the ring the 27,662 fans cheered long and hard.

Watch Klimke and Ahlerich perform at the 1984 Olympic Games.

This was a meaningful medal for Klimke, because although he had won three team gold medals before this year, the best he had done individually were bronze medals in ’68 and ’76. He finally had the Olympic gold to go with his two World Championship titles. “I would lie if I said I wasn’t happy,” he said. “I may never have the chance again to ride such a super horse as Ahlerich. I think Ahlerich is better than [’76 bronze medalist] Mehmed, but my first horse, Dux [1968] was nearly as good, but I wasn’t as good 16 years ago.”

Someone asked if he would retire now that he has won every international dressage title there is. “My friend Anton Fischer tells me to keep going, that they still need me,” Klimke replied with a smile. “As soon as good young riders from Germany come up to replace me, I will stop. Not until then.”

Klimke, the German master, had done what two other German masters. Josef Neckerman and Harry Boldt, had failed to do—win the individual gold medal. And watching him and his brilliant horse take their victory lap of one-handed one-time changes, passage, piaffe and then extended trot, one had to believe they would be back. Klimke was having too much fun.

Watch Klimke and Ahlerich take their victory lap.