Equestrian gold medalist withdraws from Olympics after video allegedly shows her mistreating horse

Olympic equestrian gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin has withdrawn from the Paris video games after a years-old video emerged allegedly displaying her mistreating a horse. 

Her choice to withdraw from the 2024 Summer time Olympics was posted on-line shortly after the Worldwide Federation for Equestrian Sports activities introduced it was suspending Dujardin whereas it investigated the circumstances surrounding the video.

“On 22 July 2024, the FEI acquired a video depicting Ms. Dujardin partaking in conduct opposite to the rules of horse welfare,” the FEI stated in a press release that didn’t elaborate upon the video’s specifics. “This video was submitted to the FEI by a lawyer representing an undisclosed complainant. In keeping with the data acquired, the footage was allegedly taken a number of years in the past throughout a coaching session carried out by Ms. Dujardin at a personal steady.”

Dujardin confirmed she was the person depicted within the video, the FEI stated, including that it condemned any conduct opposite to the welfare of horses. 

“I’m sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I’ve let everybody down,” Dujardin wrote on social media.

The video was taken 4 years in the past and confirmed Dujardin “making an error judgment throughout a training session,” she wrote in an Instagram publish. 

“What occurred was fully out of character and doesn’t replicate how I practice my horses or coach my pupils, nevertheless there isn’t any excuse,” Dujardin wrote. “I’m deeply ashamed and may have set a greater instance in that second.”

FEI President Ingmar De Vos stated the group was disenchanted with the case, particularly given its proximity to the Olympic Video games in Paris, however he acknowledged that Dujardin had expressed “real regret” for her actions. 

In keeping with the BBC, Dujardin, 39, is Britain’s joint most-decorated feminine Olympian, having acquired six medals in dressage.

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