Charlotte Dujardin is one of Great Britain’s highest-achieving sporting stars. But she has now pulled out of the Paris 2024 Olympics over allegations that she whipped a horse 24 times ‘like an elephant in a circus’.
This was after a video emerged of the incident that is said to have occurred when she was conducting a coaching session with a young rider in a private stable several years ago. The 39-year-old horsewoman won six dressage Olympic medals at London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
She was born in Enfield in 1985, but she was brought up just outside London in Hertfordshire. Ms Dejardin started riding when she was two, and, by the time she was 16, she had won the Horse of the Year Show competition four times and was a winner at Hickstead three times.
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How she became an Olympic champion
Her website states that, after further encouragement from her trainer, Debbie Thomas, Ms Dejardin took up dressage with a horse bought from her grandmother’s inheritance. Then, in February 2007, she had some lessons with Carl Hester – also a British dressage rider.
After 10 days at his yard covering for a member of staff, who was on holiday, he offered her a job as a groom at his yard in Newent, Gloucestershire. Later, Ms Dejardin became part of the successful team that won gold in a European Dressage Championships competition at Rotterdam.
Now, she is ‘the most successful British dressage rider in the history of the sport’ and the winner of all major titles. She also holds every world record in Dressage, her website proudly states.
Famously, Ms Dejardin was proposed to by her then-fiancé, Dean Golding, after she won the gold medal in Rio. He wore a shirt, which had written on it: “Can we get married now?”
How much is she worth?
The Mirror reports that it’s not clear how much money Dujardin has earned throughout her 13-year career. She’s believed to be a multi-millionaire, with the Express claiming in 2021 her net worth could be anything from $16 million to $39 million.
This equates to between £11.5 million and £28 million at that time. However, there has been no update since then, so it is not possible to say how much Dujardin is truly worth.
In a statement, Ms Dujardin said there was ‘no excuse’ for her behaviour and that she was ‘deeply ashamed’ of the error of judgment.
She added: “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 deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment.
“I am sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I have let everyone down, including Team GB, fans and sponsors. I will cooperate fully with the FEI, British Equestrian Federation and British Dressage, and will not be commenting further until the process is complete.”
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