Charlotte Dujardin

The double Olympic champion chats to Polly Bryan about the highs and lows of 2020, and how her training methods have developed

FOR Charlotte Dujardin, 2020 was supposed to be a huge year. She and Mount St John Freestyle were gearing up for the World Cup Final and then the Olympic Games, Charlotte’s first appearance at each since the heady days of Valegro. She entered the year on a high, riding the wave of a euphoric Olympia triumph and keen to put a tough 2019 behind her – her much-publicised elimination under blood rules that lost Britain the silver medal at the European Championships in August 2019 came, somewhat cruelly, at the same time as her 13-year relationship with fiancé Dean Golding was ending.

“It really wasn’t the greatest year in 2019; I found the Euros very tough and going through personal issues at the same time, in splitting up with Dean, felt like a double whammy,” Charlotte says candidly. “I was trying very hard not to allow my personal life to affect my profession and let it show, but it was hard. I felt horrendous about what happened at the Europeans – for Freestyle, for the whole team, for everybody – but I always think that if you don’t win, you learn, and I hope it has made me stronger and a better person.

“Olympia was a really good finish to the year and I remember leaving there with my head held high again, thinking that 2020 was going to be really good.”

But like so many, Charlotte was to find her dreams tumbling off a cliff; the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics was tough to take. However, the strange year ended up being positive for her in a whole host of ways.

“It was an awful year in so many respects, but I haven’t been completely devastated, because a year of training has actually done my horses so much good,” explains Charlotte, adding that the grand prix training shows organised by Carl Hester in the summer proved invaluable.