July 23, 2024 
Six-time Olympic medalist Charlotte Dujardin has withdrawn from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games following the emergence of a video showing, what Dujardin calls, “an error in judgment.”
On Tuesday, July 23, the FEI provisionally suspended Dujardin pending the results of their investigation. The British Equestrian Federation has followed suit.
The video, received by the FEI on July 22, 2024, was taken at a private stable during a coaching session four years ago. Submitted by an undisclosed complainant, it shows Dujardin engaging in training conduct that the FEI calls “contrary to the principles of horse welfare.”
A snippet of the video has since been published on social media by The Guardian and shows Dujardin repeatedly whipping the legs of a student’s horse while someone off-screen chuckles. In the full video, Dujardin allegedly strikes the horse more than two dozen times in one minute.
Dujardin—who immediately acknowledged both that it was her that appeared in the video and that her conduct was inappropriate—requested to be provisionally suspended by the FEI on Tuesday pending the outcome of their investigation. She also voluntarily withdrew from the Paris Games, and any subsequent competitions, until the FEI reaches its decision.
“What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse. I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment,” Dujardin wrote in a statement released Tuesday on her social media channels.
I am sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I have let everyone down, including Team GB, fans and sponsors.”
Dujardin added that she will fully cooperate with the FEI, the British Equestrian Federation, and British Dressage during the investigation process.
This would have been the fourth Olympic appearance for Dujardin, one of the two most decorated British female Olympic athletes in history (alongside cyclist Laura Kenny). Aboard her longtime partner, the KWPN gelding, Valegro, Dujardin won three Olympic gold medals, the World Championship, and back-to-back Longines FEI World Cup Finals in 2014-2015.
Prior to her suspension, Dujardin was ranked fourth in the FEI Dressage World Rankings. She was slated to compete for Great Britain in Paris aboard the 11-year-old KWPN gelding, Imhotep, alongside teammates Carl Hester and Fame and Charlotte Fry and Glamourdale.
With her suspension now in place, Durjardin will be replaced by traveling alternate Becky Moody and Jagerbomb.
*This story has been updated to include footage from the video submitted to the FEI.
