Her choice to withdraw from the 2024 Summer Olympics was posted on-line shortly after the International Federation for Equestrian Sports 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 mentioned in an announcement that didn’t elaborate upon the video’s specifics. “This video was submitted to the FEI by a lawyer representing an undisclosed complainant. According to the data acquired, the footage was allegedly taken a number of years in the past throughout a coaching session performed by Ms. Dujardin at a non-public steady.”
Dujardin confirmed she was the person depicted within the video, the FEI mentioned, 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 submit.
“What occurred was utterly out of character and doesn’t replicate how I prepare my horses or coach my pupils, nonetheless there isn’t a excuse,” Dujardin wrote. “I’m deeply ashamed and may have set a greater instance in that second.”
FEI President Ingmar De Vos mentioned the group was disenchanted with the case, particularly given its proximity to the Olympic Games in Paris, however he acknowledged that Dujardin had expressed “real regret” for her actions.
According to the BBC, Dujardin, 39, is Britain’s joint most-decorated feminine Olympian, having acquired six medals in dressage.