Triple Olympic dressage champion, the British Charlotte Dujardin, who had given up on the 2024 Olympics, was suspended this Thursday by the International Equestrian Federation.
The sentence has fallen for Charlotte Dujardin. Triple Olympic dressage champion (individual and team in London in 2012, individual in Rio in 2016), the Briton was suspended for one year from all official competitions for mistreatment of a horse. She was also fined around 10,700 euros.
She admitted the facts
This sanction “sends a clear message to any person, whatever their profile, adopting behavior that compromises the well-being of horses,” said Sabrina Ibanez, general secretary of the International Equestrian Federation.
The 39-year-old rider was sanctioned after the broadcast, last July, of a video, dating from 2020, in which she appeared “excessively” whipping the legs of the horse of one of her students during training. These images sparked significant controversy in England and Charlotte Dujardin decided to give up participating in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris a few days before the opening ceremony.
In a press release published on social networks, she spoke of “an error of judgment” before apologizing. “What happened is not me or how I train my horses or how I coach my students, but there is no excuse. I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example at the time. I am sincerely sorry for my actions,” she wrote.
Provisionally suspended since July 23, Charlotte Dujardin, who admitted the facts and fully cooperated with the FEI, will be able to resume competition in a little over seven months.
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