Charlotte Dujardin

Last updated

Charlotte Dujardin
CBE
Charlotte Dujardin 2012 Olympic Dressage (cropped).JPG
Dujardin in 2012
Personal information
Full nameCharlotte Susan Jane Dujardin [1]
Born (1985-07-13) 13 July 1985 (age 39) [2]
Enfield, Greater London, England
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight61 kg (134 lb)
Children1
Sport
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Sport Equestrian dressage
TeamBritish Dressage Federation
Turned pro2011
Coached by Carl Hester, Ian Cast
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking1
Medal record
Equestrian
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Olympic rings.svg
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2012 London Team dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2012 London Individual dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro Individual dressage
(with Valegro)
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team dressage
(with Valegro)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Team dressage
(with Gio)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2020 Tokyo Individual dressage
(with Gio)
World Equestrian Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2014 Normandy Spécial dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2014 Normandy Freestyle dressage
(with Valegro)
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2014 Normandy Team dressage
(with Valegro)
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Herning Team dressage
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2018 Tryon Spécial dressage
(with Mount St John Freestyle)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2018 Tryon Team dressage
(with Mount St John Freestyle)
European Dressage Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2011 Rotterdam Team dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Herning Spécial dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Herning Freestyle dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Aachen Spécial dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Aachen Freestyle dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Riesenbeck Team dressage
(with Imhotep)
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2015 Aachen Team dressage
(with Valegro)
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2021 Hagen Team dressage
(with Gio)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2013 Herning Team dressage
(with Valegro)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2021 Hagen Individual dressage
(with Gio)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2023 Riesenbeck Special dressage
(with Imhotep)
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2023 Riesenbeck Freestyle dressage
(with Imhotep)
Dressage World Cup
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2014 Lyon Individual dressage
(with Valegro)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Las Vegas Individual dressage
(with Valegro)

Charlotte Susan Jane Dujardin CBE (born 13 July 1985) is a British dressage rider, equestrian, and writer. A multiple World and Olympic champion, Dujardin has been described as the dominant dressage rider of her era. [3] She held the complete set of available individual elite dressage titles at one point[ when? ]: the individual Olympic freestyle, World freestyle and Grand Prix Special, World Cup individual dressage and European freestyle, and Grand Prix Special titles. Dujardin was the first rider to hold this complete set of titles at the same time. [4]

Contents

With six Olympic medals, including three gold medals, Dujardin is Britain's joint most decorated female Olympian of all time, tied with cyclist Laura Kenny. [5]

On 23 July 2024, Dujardin pulled out of the 2024 Summer Olympics after being provisionally suspended over animal cruelty allegations. The provisional suspension will remain in place pending the outcome of the investigation/disciplinary proceedings.

Early life

Born in Enfield, Dujardin was brought up in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. She started riding as a two-year-old, [6] returning her elder sisters' horses from the show jumping ring to the horse trailer. [7] Aged three, she achieved second place at her first Pony Club show jumping competition. [7] To finance their hobby, their mother Jane Dujardin bought and sold ponies for her daughters. [8]

As a child Dujardin was diagnosed with dyslexia. [9] She attended Vandyke Upper School in Leighton Buzzard, [10] but later commented, "I didn’t really attend school that much". [11] She left school aged 16. [12] [13]

Dujardin won the Horse of the Year Show competition four times and was a winner at All England Jumping Course at Hickstead on three occasions. [13] [14]

Career

After encouragement from her trainer Debbie Thomas, [6] Dujardin took up dressage with a horse bought using an inheritance from her grandmother. [7] [8] In February 2007, after she sought employment with Carl Hester, [6] he gave her some coaching. Spotting her talent, he offered her a job as a groom at his yard in Newent, Gloucestershire, where she has since remained. [15] [7] [12] [13] Dujardin's owned-horse is Fernandez. [6]

In 2011, Dujardin was asked by Hester and co-owner Roly Luard to develop the novice Dutch Warmblood gelding Valegro, [8] [16] with the intention of that horse being ridden by Hester. [15] [8] However, Dujardin competed on Valegro in their first dressage Grand Prix event in 2011 [13] and the combination became part of the successful team which won gold in a European Dressage Championship event at Rotterdam. The pair then won the FEI World Cup Grand Prix at London Olympia in 2011, setting a new World Record for the Olympic Grand Prix special discipline by point-scoring at 88.022%, in April 2012. [14] [17] [18]

In December 2012 Dujardin, again riding Valegro, won the 2012 World Cup freestyle event held at Olympia, with a score of 87.875%. [19] On 19 April 2015 in Las Vegas, Dujardin and Valegro won the FEI World Cup with a score of 94.169% on the final day of competition. This was their fourth consecutive World Title; they are the only competition pair to have ever held four consecutive world titles. [20] [21]

In 2019, Dujardin was eliminated from the Longines FEI European Championships after blood was found on her horse, Mount St John, after her test. [22] [23]

Olympics

The gold post box for Charlotte Dujardin in Enfield. Gold post box Enfield Charlotte Dujardin.jpg
The gold post box for Charlotte Dujardin in Enfield.

Dujardin and Valegro were among the rider/horse pairs selected to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, [24] In the first round this dressage team set a new Olympic Record of 83.784%. On 7 August 2012 the pair were members of the British team which won the gold medal in the team dressage event. [25] Two days later, in a routine accompanied by music which included Land of Hope and Glory , The Great Escape and the chimes of Big Ben; [7] the pair won the gold medal in the individual dressage event, with a score of 90.089%. [26]

Dujardin and Valegro also won double individual gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, making her the first British woman to retain an individual Olympic title. With three gold medals and a silver, Dujardin was briefly the most successful female British Olympian in the history of the Games before cyclist Laura Trott surpassed her record with a fourth gold. Dujardin and Valegro set a new Olympic dressage score of 93.857 in the Grand Prix Freestyle. [27]

On 14 December 2016, Dujardin retired Valegro at age 14 after completing a freestyle test at the Olympia London International Horse Show. The event was televised live on the BBC. Valegro's final performance was followed by tributes from Carl Hester, Valegro's owner and Dujardin's trainer, and Alan Davies, Valegro's groom. Dujardin and Hester decided after the 2016 Summer Olympics that Valegro had done everything that he could have after winning 3 Olympic gold medals (2 individual and 1 team), 1 silver, and numerous world titles with Dujardin, and wanted to let him end his career on a high note. "I wanted to retire him on a high note, because he owes me absolutely nothing", Dujardin said after an interview with the BBC. [28]

International Championship results

Charlotte Dujardin and Gio at 2021 European Championships Charlotte Dujardin - Gio - EM Hagen 2021.JPG
Charlotte Dujardin and Gio at 2021 European Championships
Results
YearEventHorseScorePlacingNotes
2011European ChampionshipsValegro78.830%Gold medal icon.svgTeam
76.548%6thIndividual Special
79.357%9thIndividual Freestyle
2012Olympic GamesValegro83.663%Gold medal icon.svgTeam
90.089%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual
2013European ChampionshipsValegro85.942%Bronze medal icon.svgTeam
85.699%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual Special
91.250%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual Freestyle
2014World Cup FinalValegro92.179%Gold medal icon.svg
2014World Equestrian GamesValegro85.271%Silver medal icon.svgTeam
86.120%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual Special
92.161%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual Freestyle
2015World Cup FinalValegro94.196%Gold medal icon.svg
2015European ChampionshipsValegro83.029%Silver medal icon.svgTeam
87.577%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual Special
89.054%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual Freestyle
2016Olympic GamesValegro85.071%Silver medal icon.svgTeam
93.857%Gold medal icon.svgIndividual
2018World Equestrian GamesMount St. John Freestyle77.764%Bronze medal icon.svgTeam
81.489%Bronze medal icon.svgIndividual Special
2019European ChampionshipsMount St. John FreestyleEL4thTeam
66thIndividual
2021Olympic GamesGio79.544%Bronze medal icon.svgTeam
88.543%Bronze medal icon.svgIndividual
2021European ChampionshipsGio79.829%Silver medal icon.svgTeam
87.246%Bronze medal icon.svgIndividual

Animal cruelty allegation

On 23 July 2024, Dujardin pulled out of competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris after a video emerged of her "engaging in conduct contrary to the principles of horse welfare", according to the FEI, the equestrian regulatory body. [29] [30] [31] [32] British Equestrian and British Dressage forwarded "allegations of animal welfare misconduct" to the FEI for investigation [33] after footage emerged of her repeatedly whipping a horse during training - around 24 times in one minute. [34] She was subsequently suspended from competition by the FEI, the British Equestrian Federation and British Dressage while a full investigation was carried out. [35]

Dujardin said in a statement she was “deeply ashamed” and the incident “was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils”. [34] The day after her suspension was announced, Dujardin had her UK Sport funding halted pending the outcome of the FEI investigation. She was also dropped as an ambassador for horse welfare charity Brooke. [36] [37] Two of her sponsors – equestrian insurance company KBIS and equipment firm Equine LTS – terminated their deals with her. [38]

Two days after Dujardin was suspended, board members of the International Dressage Riders Club, including her former mentor and Olympic teammate Carl Hester, issued a statement saying they "universally condemn" her actions. [39] [40]

Writing and television

Dujardin released her autobiography, The Girl on the Dancing Horse: Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro, in (2018). [41] She guest-starred on the Netflix show Free Rein . [42]

Personal life

Her then-fiancé Dean Golding wore a shirt bearing the proposal "Can we get married now?" after she won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics. [43] On 6 March 2023, Dujardin gave birth to a daughter. [44]

Honours

Dujardin was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours [45] [46] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours, [47] both for services to equestrianism.

Dujardin has a modern strip of public housing, Dujardin Mews, named after her in Enfield. [48]

See also

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