An important member of Great Britain's equestrian dressage team, three-time gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin, has withdrawn from the Olympics, as she has been banned for six months after a video from four years ago was put out, showing her physically 'whipping a horse 24 times.'
Dujardin released a statement about the incident that occurred.
"Understandably, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) is investigating, and I have made the decision to withdraw from all competition, including the Paris Olympics, while this process takes place.
The Olympian champion went on to apologize for what was witnessed in the video footage.
"What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse," Dujardin said. "I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment."
When looking at the 39-year-old's career, she has had quite the resume winning a total of six medals, including gold medals in team and individual dressage during 2012 in London, as well as taking gold in individual dressage while at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Then to note, Dujardin also won a silver medal in team dressage in Rio, and bronze medals in team and individual dressage at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Ultimately, in what is an unfortunate scenario from a well-esteemed athlete, this has since raised some public concerns in regards to the mistreatment of animals for sport.
Extremely unsurprising that Charlotte Dujardin has been applying abusive ‘errors of judgement’ to get her horses to act this way. Dressage is totally unnatural and disrespectful and shouldn’t be classified as a sport pic.twitter.com/ci9voR7koK
— Claire Bass (@ClaireHSI) July 23, 2024
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