Suspected horse mistreatment: Dujardin misses Paris 2024 Olympics

Charlotte Dujardin was already in Paris to compete in her fourth career Olympics when a storm of controversy broke over her, forcing her to leave the French capital in a hurry, to the point that she gave up participating in the Games. The British rider is under investigation by the International Federation of Equestrian Sports over a video dating back four years, in which she is seen carrying out several acts harmful to horses’ health.

Having won the individual dressage gold medal in both London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016, to which must be added a team title at the home edition, a silver in Brazil and a bronze in Tokyo 2020, the 39-year-old Briton has issued a statement saying she is ashamed of what happened, although she is completely out of line with the way her students’ training was handled, while making herself available to investigators.

Pending clarification of the matter, the FEI (International Federation of Equestrian Sports) has announced the temporary suspension of the English athlete with immediate effect from the date of the announcement, 23 July 2024, thus forcing her to miss the Olympic competition. A measure that in fact adds to the one she had also faced at the 2019 European Championship, when Dujardin was disqualified after blood was found on her horse.