Riding icon banned

Olympic withdrawal: scandalous video shows whip lashes

Charlotte Dujardin won the bronze medal with "Gio" in Tokyo, but now a scandalous video has caused the dressage icon to pull out of the Olympics.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP, facebook.com/elaine.annis,)

Shortly before the Olympic Games in Paris, Great Britain has lost one of its most important medal contenders - and equestrian sport has another scandal on its hands. The debate about whether horses should remain in the Olympic competitions has been reignited. 

Charlotte Dujardin is not only a superstar in her home country. After the scandalous sale of the former wonder horse "Totilas", the quarrels between the major equestrian powers Germany and the Netherlands and a number of animal welfare scandals, she came at just the right time for the International Equestrian Federation FEI when she won double gold at the 2012 Olympics in London with her former top horse "Valegro". 

From record winner to fallen star
The sport of dressage had its new star - young, British, athletic and far removed from any scandals about doping or cruel training methods. Under the guidance of her trainer Carl Hester, Dujardin collected medals non-stop, broke all records and could have become Great Britain's most decorated Olympian in Paris. 

With "Valegro", Dujardin not only won three Olympic gold medals, she still holds the points records in the most difficult dressage tests Grand Prix, Grand Prix Special and Grand Prix Freestyle.

(Bild: AFP)

But less than 24 hours ago, the house of cards collapsed. Because Dujardin, who has always had a reputation for training her horses without such methods, published a statement completely out of the blue in which she ruefully admitted "a misjudgement during a training session". The World Equestrian Federation banned her with immediate effect until further notice and launched an investigation. 

British television has since published an excerpt of the video, and what can be seen there is likely to anger more than just animal lovers. In the short sequence, the multiple Olympic champion can be seen hitting a horse with a whip while another rider sits in the saddle. 

Here is a video clip published by the British media:

The incident is said to have taken place in 2022 - and not four years ago, as claimed by the rider. The video was handed over to the World Equestrian Federation via a lawyer after other top riders, including Danish Olympic rider Carina Cassøe Krüth, had previously been banned for similar incidents. 

The trade magazine "Eurodressage" reached the lawyer, who stated that his clients had hesitated for a long time to hand over the video and report the incident. "They thought they were going up against Goliath. And assumed that because Charlotte Dujardin is a highly decorated rider, these methods were normal. That that's just how it would be done."

Equestrian sport threatened with Olympic exit
The whole incident comes at an extremely unfavorable time for the World Equestrian Federation. After all, the terrible images from the pentathlon competition in Tokyo, where a completely overwhelmed athlete mistreated the horse provided to her, have reignited the debate about whether equestrian sport should remain at the Olympics.

For Los Angeles 2028, it has already been decided that the riders and their four-legged sports partners will be back. However, the future of the animal athletes under the five rings seems anything but certain.