British star out of 2024 Paris Olympics over alleged animal cruelty

Charlotte Dujardin, a former three-time Olympic gold medalist, won't get to add to her medal tally at this year's 2024 Paris Olympics.

On Tuesday, the decorated equestrian was banned from representing Great Britain over a controversial video that allegedly shows her whipping her horse 24 times during a coaching session four years ago.

While the video hasn't been made public, the British media reported that Dujardin felt "deeply ashamed" after footage of her alleged animal cruelty was sent to authorities. Once the video made the rounds through the Team GB camp in Paris, Dujardin withdrew from the Olympics before being "provisionally suspended for six months" by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).

According to the FEI's statement , the video showed the British Olympian "engaging in conduct contrary to the principles of horse welfare – during a training session conducted at Ms Dujardin's private stable."

Dujardin — who was bidding to become Britain's winningest female Olympian in Paris — expressed regret over the incident via a statement.

"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 sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I have let everyone down, including Team GB, fans and sponsors."

Meanwhile, The Telegraph spoke with the lawyer of the person who reported Dujardin to the FEI over the incident. According to Stephan Wensing, his client, a 19-year-old girl, attended Dujardin's camp in Gloucestershire when she witnessed the act of animal cruelty from the Olympian.

"Charlotte Dujardin was in the middle of the arena. She said to the student, 'your horse must lift up the legs more in the canter.' She took the long whip and she was beating the horse more than 24 times in one minute and really hard, really harsh, really tough," Wensing recalled.

The lawyer further compared Dujardin whipping the horse to "an elephant in the circus."

Dujardin captured gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics (Team dressage and Individual dressage) and the 2016 Rio Olympics (Individual dressage) and silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics (Team dressage). At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she won a pair of bronze medals in both dressage events.

With six medals, Dujardin was just one shy of surpassing Laura Kenny as the winningest female British Olympian. She will have to resume her pursuit at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.