# Charlotte Dujardin

Charlotte Susan Jane Dujardin (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. In 2014 she held the complete set of available individual elite dressage titles: 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.
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.
On 23 July 2024, Dujardin pulled out of the 2024 Summer Olympics after a video surfaced of her "excessively" whipping a horse during training. She was provisionally handed a one-year suspension, which was upheld by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports in December 2024.

## Early life

Born in Enfield, Dujardin was brought up in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. She started riding as a two-year-old, returning her elder sisters' horses from the show jumping ring to the horse trailer. Aged three, she achieved second place at her first Pony Club show jumping competition. To finance their hobby, their mother Jane Dujardin bought and sold ponies for her daughters.
As a child Dujardin was diagnosed with dyslexia. She attended Vandyke Upper School in Leighton Buzzard, but later commented, "I didn’t really attend school that much". She left school aged 16.
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.

## Career

After encouragement from her trainer Debbie Thomas, Dujardin took up dressage with a horse bought using an inheritance from her grandmother. In February 2007, after she sought employment with Carl Hester, 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. Dujardin's owned-horse is Fernandez.
In 2011, Dujardin was asked by Hester and co-owner Roly Luard to develop Valegro, a novice Dutch Warmblood gelding, with the intention of that horse being ridden by Hester. However, Dujardin competed on Valegro in their first dressage Grand Prix event in 2011 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 discipline by point-scoring at 88.022%, in April 2012.
In December 2012 Dujardin, again riding Valegro, won the 2012 World Cup freestyle event held at Olympia, with a score of 87.875%. 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.
In 2019, Dujardin was eliminated from the Longines FEI European Championships after blood was found on her horse, Mount St John Freestyle, after her test.

### Olympics

Dujardin and Valegro were among the rider/horse pairs selected to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 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. 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; the pair won the gold medal in the individual dressage event, with a score of 90.089%.
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.
On 14 December 2016, Dujardin retired Valegro at the age of 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 three Olympic gold medals (two individual and one team), one 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.

## International Championship results

Results :
| Year | Event | Horse | Score | Placing | Notes |
| 2011 | European Championships | Valegro | 78.830% | | Team |
| 2011 | European Championships | Valegro | 76.548% | 6th | Individual Special |
| 2011 | European Championships | Valegro | 79.357% | 9th | Individual Freestyle |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | Valegro | 83.663% | | Team |
| 2012 | Olympic Games | Valegro | 90.089% | | Individual |
| 2013 | European Championships | Valegro | 85.942% | | Team |
| 2013 | European Championships | Valegro | 85.699% | | Individual Special |
| 2013 | European Championships | Valegro | 91.250% | | Individual Freestyle |
| 2014 | World Cup Final | Valegro | 92.179% | | |
| 2014 | World Equestrian Games | Valegro | 85.271% | | Team |
| 2014 | World Equestrian Games | Valegro | 86.120% | | Individual Special |
| 2014 | World Equestrian Games | Valegro | 92.161% | | Individual Freestyle |
| 2015 | World Cup Final | Valegro | 94.196% | | |
| 2015 | European Championships | Valegro | 83.029% | | Team |
| 2015 | European Championships | Valegro | 87.577% | | Individual Special |
| 2015 | European Championships | Valegro | 89.054% | | Individual Freestyle |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Valegro | 85.071% | | Team |
| 2016 | Olympic Games | Valegro | 93.857% | | Individual |
| 2018 | World Equestrian Games | Mount St. John Freestyle | 77.764% | | Team |
| 2018 | World Equestrian Games | Mount St. John Freestyle | 81.489% | | Individual Special |
| 2019 | European Championships | Mount St. John Freestyle | EL | 4th | Team |
| 2019 | European Championships | Mount St. John Freestyle | EL | 66th | Individual |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Gio | 79.544% | | Team |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Gio | 88.543% | | Individual |
| 2021 | European Championships | Gio | 79.829% | | Team |
| 2021 | European Championships | Gio | 87.246% | | Individual |

### 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 repeatedly whipping a horse during training. British Equestrian and British Dressage forwarded "allegations of animal welfare misconduct" to the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) for investigation. The FEI described Dujardin's actions in the video as "engaging in conduct contrary to the principles of horse welfare", and was suspended from competition while a full investigation was carried out.
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". The day after her suspension was announced, Dujardin's UK Sport funding was halted pending the outcome of the FEI investigation. She was also dropped as an ambassador for horse welfare charity Brooke and two of her sponsors terminated their deals with her.
Two days after Dujardin was suspended, board members of the International Dressage Riders Club, including her former mentor and Olympic teammate Hester, issued a statement "universally condemn[ing]" her actions. In December 2024, the FEI upheld the one-year suspension and fine of 10,000 Swiss Francs (£8,881).

## Writing and television

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

## Personal life

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

## Honours

Dujardin was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours, both for services to equestrianism.
Dujardin has a modern strip of public housing, Dujardin Mews, named after her in Enfield.