Dressage competitor Carl Hester began his quest for a fourth straight Olympic medal Tuesday amid the remaining cloud of controversy around former team dressage partner Charlotte Dujardin.
Dujardin was suspended by the FEI, equestrian’s governing body, just days before the Paris Games got underway after a video from 2020 surfaced showing her repeatedly whipping the legs of a horse during a training session with a student. The International Dressage Riders Club board, of which Hester is a member, “universally condemn[ed]” Dujardin’s actions shortly after the video was made public.
After completing his preliminary ride Tuesday, Hester, who is gay, spoke further with the media about his teammate and mentee.
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“I’m here; I haven’t seen her, and I know that things are very, very difficult,” he said “She’s surrounded by people that are trying to help her. She obviously accepts what she did — which she had to do — and I’m glad she’s done that for her.”
He told the BBC that the video was a “huge shock” and that the incident didn’t occur on his property. “It’s difficult, of course it is. I have known her for 17 years, she’s a mum, she has a small child,” he said. “She has paid very heavily for this in a way that you wouldn’t believe.”
Part of that payment for Dujardin is missing out on the Paris Games and the opportunity at a seventh Olympic medal, making her the most successful female Olympian from Britain. Dujardin accepted a provisional suspension as the FEI continues its investigation.
Dujardin lost multiple sponsorships and funding from the U.K.’s sports governing body, U.K. Sport, in the days after the video emerged. In a statement, she expressed she was “deeply ashamed” and her actions in the video were “completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils.”
“Everyone can see that this is four years ago, people do make mistakes, and what do we do? We never forgive people for all the things that happen in life?” Hester said. “That is not my opinion of Charlotte. That video is fairly obvious and nobody is going to support that, you can’t, but my personal opinion of Charlotte over 17 years, I have not seen that, that is not her.
“Right now it’s going to be a long road for her, and a lesson — for everybody really, in the horse world. We’ve got to put the horses first.”
With Dujardin suspended, Hester remains in search of his fourth Olympic medal. He wrapped up Tuesday with a score of 77.345 which placed him third in his group and just short of automatic qualification for the individual final. He must wait to see if his score is good enough to secure qualification for the individual and team finals as prelims continue Wednesday.
