Wednesday September 18, 2002

US Dressage Coach Klaus Balkenhol, A Key That Unlocked The Door For The Americans - Page 3

After the Grand Prix Special, Klaus commented that he had not yet seen the judge's score sheets for McDonald and Wilcox, but that he was sure that he would see some scores of 9 and 10. He noted that the opinion of the judges had to be very different for the results to have turned out the way they did. He added that he was disappointed that one judge gave 40 points less to Wilcox than another judge. "You really have to put the best judges here," he said, but he would go no further when asked if that meant that the judges at the WEG were not the best. "I do not want to make that comment as team coach, but I suggest they do their best."

When Balkenhol returns to his home in Germany and the American riders all go back to their various homes in the States, he said that all he could do to help them was, "hope that all the riders will remember what I have told them."