Charlotte Dujardin becomes joint-most decorated British female Olympian

Equestrian Dressage 27 Jul 21

Charlotte Dujardin became Britain's joint-most decorated female Olympian of all time with her fifth medal in Tokyo.

She helped Great Britain claim a team equestrian dressage medal for the third straight Olympics - adding a bronze to their gold and silver from London and Rio.

It means Dujardin joins rower Dame Katherine Grainger and tennis and badminton player Kathleen McKane Godfree on five medals, with three golds, one silver and one bronze in her three Olympic appearances.

Defending champions Germany proved just too strong again and the USA scored marginally better to drop Dujardin, Carl Hester and Charlotte Fry down to third - the same podium as 2016 with just the one switch of places.

Dujardin said after her record-breaking bronze: "It’s always a huge honour just to come to an Olympic Games and represent your country.

β€œTo come away with another medal is just absolutely unbelievable. I feel so proud to be here, we have such a fantastic team – it’s unbelievable. β€œTo come away with another medal and be alongside incredible inspiring women and sportspeople, I can’t say much more.”

Dressage may remain one of the most puzzling spectacles at the Olympics, a combination of horsemanship, grace, training and athleticism but Great Britain have quickly established themselves as one of the powerhouses of the discipline.

And you don't have to understand these majestic dancing horses to appreciate these stats.

Team GB didn't medal at the first 22 Games in which dressage was staged - in the last three they've won three golds, one silver and two bronze – Dujardin contributing in all but one.

Hester said: β€œAny medal is a dream come true for any athlete.

β€œWe’ve had gold in London and this was a hard-fought battle, we’ve got a young Lottie [Charlotte Fry], we all had young horses – it is a dream come true that they all came together and performed here.

β€œI wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to end up because we haven’t been able to compete.

β€œWe have been comparing against each other about how they’re going to perform, so the fact that they did and the judges loved them, it’s a great feeling."

Olympic debutant Fry added: "I’m pretty speechless but very, very proud. I think it’s pretty surreal that I’m stood here in between the dressage king and queen."

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