I wonder how bad things were for them in DDR, getting ready for this competition. They were very strong (gold) medal favorites for DDR, yet DDR sent this couple to this momentus competition in recycled costumes they had worn several times over the years…and that generally was not how champions were treated in DDR. [When costumes were recycled, they usually at least altered them enough not to be too obvious (like the black dress Poetzsch wore in 1980 Ex -> Witt 1983 FS -> Grossman 1990 FS)…but these weren’t altered at all.]
I wonder how bad things were for them in DDR, getting ready for this competition. They were very strong (gold) medal favorites for DDR, yet DDR sent this couple to this momentus competition in recycled costumes they had worn several times over the years…and that generally was not how champions were treated in DDR. [When costumes were recycled, they usually at least altered them enough not to be too obvious (like the black dress Poetzsch wore in 1980 Ex -> Witt 1983 FS -> Grossman 1990 FS)…but these weren’t altered at all.]
Makes me wonder how bad things might have been for them when they came back to east Germany without a medal...