That wasn’t me.
That’s the message from dressage trainer Alicia Dickinson, who has admitted to being in the stables when disgraced British Olympian Charlotte Dujardin repeatedly whipped her horse, but made it clear she is not releasing the video that led to Dujardin withdrawing from the 2024 Olympics.
“The media revelations this week regarding Charlotte Dujardin were unacceptable.” Dickinson wrote on his Instagram account on Thursday.“I want to be clear about the following:
“I am not a whistleblower. I did not capture the footage. The speculation online is baseless. Our business relationship ended following the lessons shown in the video.”
“I await the outcome of the FEI’s (International Equestrian Federation) investigation and will not be commenting further at this time.”
Dickinson is London-based Australian trainer It offers a combination of online and in-person classes, costing about $54,260 per student. According to The Sun.
The Sun reported that Dickinson was embroiled in controversy after being identified by a “leading stud and dressage training facility” in the Netherlands, and cited sources who claimed they were “100 per cent sure” the voice heard in the background of the video was definitely hers.
Dickinson told friends she felt “betrayed” by Dujardin throughout the affair, according to The Sun, which reported that she had taken “high-net-worth clients” to the six-time Olympic medallist for training.
“I have a lot of enemies in Charlotte,” Dickinson told the paper. “It could have been anyone, but I got backlash.”
Dickinson reportedly commented on the accused horse-training tactics also used by Dujardin in a YouTube video, which has since been deleted. From the Daily Mail.
“The reason my career stalled is because I was never willing to do what the top jockeys do to get there. I don’t want medals so much as knocking horses down,” she was quoted as saying in the now-deleted video. “If I look back at my riding, there will be moments that I’m embarrassed about. I chased my idols and forgot my morals.”
2024 Paris Olympics
With three gold medals under her belt, Dujardin needed one more to become England’s most decorated female athlete.
The video shows Dujardin repeatedly whipping the horse during a training session, which Dujardin claims happened four years ago, but the whistleblower’s lawyers say happened two and a half years ago.
The horse is visibly shaken by the repeated blows, at one point rearing back and lifting its legs as it is being whipped.
Dutch lawyer Stefan Wensing Uma.nl His client “hesitated for a long time” but eventually “couldn’t bear to do nothing” while Dujardin was trying to set the record.
He added on “Good Morning Britain” that his client had witnessed this on a number of occasions. Transcribed by The Sun.
The Sun reported that it “understands” that the mother of the horse rider seen in the video is the person who released the video.
“I have to defend my client’s reputation,” Wensing told the outlet. “My client is very afraid of a witch hunt. All this talk about timing is victim blaming. It’s absurd. It has nothing to do with timing, it’s just victim blaming. In a criminal case the victim cannot choose the timing.”
Dujardin apologised for his behaviour in an Instagram post and announced his withdrawal.
“A video has been leaked from four years ago in which I made an error of judgement during a coaching session,” the 39-year-old wrote in the post.
“While what happened is completely out of character for me and does not reflect the way I train horses or mentor my students, there are no excuses. I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example at that moment.”
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“I truly regret my actions and am devastated to have let everyone down – the British team, our fans and sponsors.
“I will cooperate fully with the FEI, British Equestrian and British Dressage in their investigation and will refrain from making any further comment until these have been completed.”
The FEI has launched an investigation into the matter and Dujardin has been provisionally suspended by the FEI. British Eventing and British Dressage.
These suspensions bar them from competing in national and international events.
