Team GB star casts dark shadow over Olympic Games on eve of Paris event

Charlotte Dujardin has cast a dark shadow over not just herself but the whole of Team GB heading into the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

This summer was meant to be a historic moment where women's sport was thrust into the spotlight as we celebrated our nation's greatest female Olympian of all time.

Dujardin is tied with Laura Kenny on six medals and was a dead cert to add to her collection.

But the dressage star has been suspended for disgustingly whipping a horse in the legs 24 times in one minute.

This wasn't a racing whip either, it was a long lunge whip that makes a nasty noise when connecting with the victim.

It is not uncommon for lunge whips to be used in dressage training.

It is meant to encourage a horse to eloquently trot. It is not meant to distress the horse so much that it cowers towards the wall, jumping every couple of seconds to escape the incoming blows.

There is no way Dujardin can be allowed to compete again if this is the way she treats the animals.

The three governing bodies who have launched investigations must be thorough to see if this "error of judgment" has happened before. Even if they are a few years late.

Consequently, instead of building excitement for Team GB's medal hopefuls, we're discussing an act of cruelty that should never be seen again.

Ratcliffe apology

CAN somebody check on Paula Ratcliffe after she wished convicted child rapist Steven van de Velde "good luck" at the Olympics.

The Dutch volleyball player shouldn't be near the 2024 Games, especially just eight years after imprisonment.

Thankfully Ratcliffe has since apologised, otherwise, her BBC pundit job had to be on the line.