British dressage star Charlotte Dujardin will not compete at the Paris Olympics after a video emerged of her whipping a horse excessively on the legs while coaching a younger pupil. The video dates back several years, but its release has forced the 39-year-old to withdraw from the Paris Games immediately. Britain’s equal most decorated female Olympic athlete has won six medals across Games in London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 .
“Charlotte Dujardin was in the middle of the arena,” Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing said, according to a UK Telegraph report. “She said to the student: ‘Your horse must lift up the legs more in the canter’. She took the long whip and she was beating the horse more than 24 times in one minute. British Equestrian CEO Jim Eyre said the sport’s governing body in the UK was taking the matter very seriously.