Dujardin free to compete after whipping ban

After serving a one-year suspension, three-time Olympic dressage gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin intends to resume competing.

Dujardin, 40, was “excessively” whipping a horse, which the FEI, the world’s governing body of equestrian sports, banned from in December and fined 10, 000 Swiss francs (£8,886).

She repeatedly struck the horse with a long whip around its legs in July, just before the Paris 2024 Olympics began.

British Equestrian and British Dressage supported the international ban, which was retroactive to July 23, 2024, the date of her provisional suspension.

Dujardin does intend to return to the sport, but it is not yet known when or where that will take place.

She can reapply for British Dressage membership starting on Thursday, which will allow her to enter its affiliated competitions.

While serving the ban, she was denied access to public funding and benefits through UK Sport, and she also lost sponsorship deals and ambassadorial positions.

A UK Sport spokesman confirmed to BBC Sport that Charlotte’s future eligibility for public funds is being “under consideration,” and that the outcome will determine whether she can enroll in British Equestrian’s World Class Performance Program once more.

Dujardin’s representatives are reportedly speaking with British Dressage and Equestrian about her recent return to the sport.

British Dressage confirmed to BBC Sport that it was speaking with Dujardin’s team, whereas British Equestrian stated it was unable to speak with athletes directly.

Dujardin is not one of the eight British competitors entered for the FEI to compete in the Dressage European Championships in August.

Dujardin had set out to compete for a fourth gold medal at the Paris Games.

However, she made a statement last July that she was withdrawing shortly before the start of the Games.

The FEI later issued a temporary suspension for her, which claimed it had seen footage of Dujardin “acting in a manner that constituted a violation of horse welfare” during a training session held at Ms. Dujardin’s private stable.

According to the FEI, Dujardin confirmed that she was the subject of the video, which was “required to be temporarily suspended pending the outcome of the investigations.”

The FEI tribunal stated in a statement that the video showed Dujardin whipping the horse more than 20 times, mostly from behind on the hind legs, and also between and between on the horse’s front legs and shoulders.

It further stated that since the video’s release, Dujardin’s conduct had not been subject to any other rule violations and that no additional complaints had been made against him.

Valegro won gold medals in dressage for the team and individual, and Dujardin rose to fame at the 2012 London Olympics.

Four years later in Rio, the pair won team gold and individual silver.

Gio, Dujardin won two bronze medals at the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2020 Games on a different horse.

A medal of any color would have made her Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, a title she shares with former cyclist Dame Laura Kenny, who both won six Olympic medals.

She was scheduled to ride Imhotep, known as Pete, in international competition, her first horse since Valegro to surpass 90%. Since the 2023 European Championships, the pair had not lost.