Charlotte Dujardin wins gold in the individual dressage at London 2012

Thursday 09 August 2012

Charlotte Dujardin has claimed her second dressage title of London 2012, this time in the individual dressage event.

It is Team GB’s 23rd gold medal overall and takes Great Britain to 50 medals overall.

Dujardin was victorious on Valegro and another Team GB member, Laura Bechtolsheimer took home the bronze medal.

Dujardin’s gold has further increased Britain’s best gold medal total for 104 years. In fact, it was only in the London Games of 1908, when we have done so well, winning 56 medals.

With the team of Dujardin, Bechtolsheimer and Carl Hester having already tasted victory at Greenwich Park, the further gold and bronze medals complete a very formidable Olympic performance from the Team GB dressage team.

Dujardin defeated the Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen whilst competing to some cracking movie themes including The Great Escape and Live and Let Die.

Gloucestershire's Bechtolsheimer, 27, scored 84.339 with Mistral Hojris to guarantee Britain a medal before Hester posted 82.857 to sit behind Germany's Helen Langehanenberg

However, penultimate rider Cornelissen upped the ante spectacularly with a huge score of 88.196 on Parzival, throwing a dramatic gauntlet down for Dujardin as the last rider into the Olympic arena.

She took to the arena and was unfased by the pressure scoring 90.089 to take home the gold. The team’s unprecedented success at London 2012 has marked a new era for British dressage, as the future looks brighter than ever before.

However it also marks the end of an impressive era too, as Hester's Uthopia and Dujardin's Valegro are both now due to be moved on by their owners. This means that the pair will have to find new rides if they plan to defend their titles at Rio 2016. Bechtolsheimer's Mistral Hojris may be retired - she says she will give him time before making a decision.

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