It wasn’t me.
That’s the message from Alicia Dickinson, a dressage trainer who admitted to being present in the barn when disgraced British Olympian Charlotte Dujardin repeatedly whipped a horse, but clarified she did not release the video that led to Dujardin withdrawing from the 2024 Olympics.
“This week’s media revelations regarding Charlotte Dujardin have been difficult to process,” Dickinson wrote Thursday on her Instagram account. “I would like to make clear:
“I am not the whistleblower. I did not film the footage. Any online speculation is unfounded. Our business relationship ended after the lesson shown in the video.
“I await the outcome of the FEI (Federation Equestre Internationale) investigation and will not be commenting further at this moment.”
Dickinson is an Australian trainer based in London who conducts online and in-person classes that cost up to roughly $54,260 per person, according to The Sun.
The Sun reported Dickinson became involved in the controversy after being identified by a “leading stud and dressage training yard” from the Netherlands, and the outlet cited a source claiming the voice heard in the background of the video was unmistakably her and they were “100 percent sure.”
Dickinson has told friends she has been “thrown under the bus” by Dujardin during this ongoing saga, per The Sun, which reported she took “high-net-worth clients” to the six-time Olympic medalist for training.
“Charlotte has many enemies,” Dickinson told the paper. “It could have been anyone but I got the backlash.”
Dickinson reportedly commented on frowned-upon horse training tactics similarly used by Dujardin in a YouTube video that has since been deleted, per The Daily Mail.
“The reason my career stalled – I’m not willing to do what top riders do to get there I don’t want a medal enough to beat my horse up,” she reportedly said in the deleted video. “If I look back at my riding there’d be moments I would be ashamed of. I followed my idols and forgot my own morals.”
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Dujardin, who has won three gold medals, needed just one more medal to become England’s most decorated female athlete.
The video showcases Dujardin repeatedly whipping a horse during a training session, which she claimed happened four years ago, although the whistleblower’s lawyer said it happened two and a half years ago.
The horse is clearly disturbed by the repeated whippings, backing away at one point and raising its legs while being hit.
Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing told horses.nl his client had “long hesitated” but ultimately “could not bring” themselves to do nothing while Dujardin attempted to set a record.
He added on “Good Morning Britain” that his client had seen this happen on numerous occasions, as transcribed by the Sun.
The Sun reported that it’s “understood” the mother of the rider on the horse in the video is the one who released the video.
“I need to protect the name of my client,” Wensing told the outlet. “My client is so afraid of the witch hunt. All this talk about the timing is victim-blaming. It’s ridiculous. The timing is not relevant, it’s just victim-blaming. Victims do not choose the timing in a criminal case.”
Dujardin apologized for her actions in an Instagram post announcing her withdrawal.
“A video has emerged from four years ago which shows me making an error of judgment during a coaching session,” the 39-year-old wrote in the post.
“What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse. I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment.
“I am sincerely sorry for my actions and devastated that I have let everyone down, including Team GB, fans and sponsors.
“I will cooperate fully with the FEI, British Equestrian Federation and British Dressage during their investigations, and will not be commenting further until the process is complete.”
The FEI launched an investigation into the matter, and Dujardin has received a provisional suspension from the FEI and the British Equestrian and British Dressage.
Those suspensions resulted in bans from both national and international events.