Video of an Olympic champion whipping a horse resurrected a dark side of the games
British Olympian Charlotte Dujardin was suspended after video showed her whipping a horse, reigniting concerns about the treatment of Olympic horses.
Bradley Collyer - PA Images/Getty Images
- British athlete Charlotte Dujardin was barred from the Paris Olympics for whipping a horse.
- The last Olympics, in Tokyo, also prompted widespread revulsion when a rider punched a horse.
- Activists say that using horses to compete is cruel and that the games should be human-only.
Video of an Olympic champion repeatedly whipping a horse forced her out of the Paris games — and threw attention back on a touchy part of the competition.
Charlotte Dujardin, a British athlete with three gold medals, was barred from competing for six months over the footage.
The video, shared by an unnamed whistleblower and broadcast by Britain's ITV network, prompted swift punishment for Dujardin.
A lawyer for the whistleblower told Britain's Daily Telegraph that their client was 19 and had been "warned against speaking out in the UK."
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) suspended her for six months, precluding her from competing in Paris.
Dujardin said that the video was from four years ago, and called it an "error in judgment" in a statement. She said she was "deeply ashamed."
The incident reignited criticism of equestrian sport by animal-rights activists who say that the Olympics should be for human competitors.
Similar criticism came to the fore at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when Germany's team coach punched a horse that refused to jump in the modern pentathlon.
The incident led to backlash from animal rights activists and ignited debate on horse welfare and safety.
The Paris games will be the first to feature an official dedicated to the welfare of competition horses.
The 2028 games in LA won't feature an equestrian portion after officials voted to reform the event. (It will still have regular equestrian events though.)
The animal rights group PETA criticized Dujardin and said that horses should not be used for sport.
"Yet again, an Olympic rider has been caught on video abusing a horse to force the animal to behave in an entirely unnatural way, simply for her own glory," a statement said.
"Horses don't volunteer — they can only submit to violence and coercion. It's time for the Olympics to move into the modern era."
The video is doing considerable damage to Dujardin's career — UK officials suspended her public funding, and the horse-welfare charity Brooke also dropped her as an ambassador.
A report by The Guardian, citing unnamed UK officials, said Dujardin would also no longer be considered for a damehood.