Scandalous video puts Olympic champions in "shock"
Three-time Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin is suspended before the Paris Olympics due to a video showing her whipping a horse. German riders strongly condemn the horse mistreatment by Dressage Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin.
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl spoke out against horse abuse by Dressage Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin with clear words. "We were all in shock at first. We were shocked and then just angry," the 38-year-old said in a press conference. It casts a terrible light on her sport. "It's absolutely unacceptable. It's bullshit."
Before the double Olympic champion of 2021, Isabell Werth and Dujardin's trainer Carl Hester had already condemned the actions of the British woman in a letter from the International Dressage Riders Club (IDRC). Werth also told "Sportschau": "It makes me incredibly sad. I have no words for it. It's senseless and something I can't understand or accept in any way."
"More than 24 times in a minute"
Just before the Paris Games, a four-year-old video surfaced showing Dujardin whipping a horse multiple times with a whip. Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing reported the incident on behalf of a client to the international federation FEI and told "The Guardian" about the video: "Charlotte Dujardin was in the arena. She told the rider: 'Your horse needs to lift its legs more in the gallop.' She took the long whip and whipped the horse more than 24 times in a minute. It was like an elephant in a circus."
The three-time Olympic champion admitted to the FEI that she was the person in the video and her behavior was inappropriate. The 39-year-old was suspended. She had asked for the suspension until the investigation into the video was completed according to FEI statements.
"We first learned about it from the media, we don't know the video," said team leader Dennis Peiler. "Such news is always bad for the sport." Cases of animal cruelty in the USA and Denmark have been keeping the dressage scene busy for months. With the absence of Dujardin, one of the biggest competitors of the German Dressure team around double Olympic champion Jessica von Bredow-Werndl will be missing at the Paris Games. The British team, which was considered the gold favorite, is significantly weakened by Dujardin's absence.
Despite the suspension of three-time Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin due to the horse whipping incident, her absence will be felt strongly in the Equestrianism events at the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris. The incident, which involved her repeatedly whipping a horse with a whip more than 24 times in a minute, has been widely condemned by fellow riders, including double Olympic champion Isabell Werth and German team leader Dennis Peiler, who described it as bad news for the sport.
