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Olympics 2024 LIVE: Latest news as dressage star Dujardin withdraws over leaked video
![Olympics 2024 LIVE: Latest news as dressage star Dujardin withdraws over leaked video Olympics 2024 LIVE: Latest news as dressage star Dujardin withdraws over leaked video](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/08/02/12/2e7cc5556aa40df8ad59e0e1b024986dY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjI3OTkwNjU3-2.61239443.jpg?quality=75&width=1200&auto=webp)
The Olympics begins with a unique opening ceremony on Friday night along the River Seine before the competitive action gets going at Paris 2024 on Saturday and continues for 16 days.
Team GB are taking more than 300 athletes to the Games including Andy Murray, twice an Olympic champion who announced on arrival in Paris on Tuesday that this would be the final tennis tournament of his career – a fitting stage to exit after his success in London and Rio de Janeiro.
But Charlotte Dujardin, a six-time Olympic medallist, has pulled out of all competition while the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) investigates a video from four years ago showing her making “an error of judgement” during a coaching session.
“What happened was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils, however there is no excuse,” she said in a statement. “I am deeply ashamed and should have set a better example in that moment.”
Follow the latest news and build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics below.
LeBron James selected as Team USA male flagbearer for Paris Olympics opening ceremony
LeBron James wasn’t totally sure what the opening ceremony was all about when he was picked for his first Olympics in 2004.
This time, he’ll be one of the stars of the show.
James has been picked by his fellow U.S. Olympians to serve as the male flagbearer for the Americans in Friday night’s opening ceremony for the Paris Games. He becomes the third basketball player — and the first men’s player — to carry the U.S. flag at the start of an Olympics, joining Dawn Staley for the Athens Games in 2004 and Sue Bird for the Tokyo Games that happened in 2021.
Callum Rice-Coates24 July 2024 02:00
Olympics 2024: What are the rules on political protests and the punishments?
And though much of the focus will be on the sporting drama, events throughout the world will inevitably be put into the spotlight during a competition that has a long history of political protest and expression.
Callum Rice-Coates24 July 2024 01:00
Olympics 2024: DSD rules explained
Callum Rice-Coates24 July 2024 00:00
Matt Richards: Swimming is different, it’s a life-saving skill
Matt Richards senses his time is now. The 21-year-old gives an enthusiastic nod when pointing out how nine intense days could change his life and propel him towards superstardom. He is poised to become one of British swimming’s standout performers at the Paris Olympics.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 23:00
Andy Murray announces retirement from tennis after Olympic Games
And in the week before the Games, he announced it would be his last tournament.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 22:00
Charlotte Dujardin pulls out of Olympics 2024 as video emerges of ‘error of judgement’
Charlotte Dujardin has pulled out of the Olympics due to a video that shows the dressage rider “making an error of judgement during a coaching session” four years ago, for which she is now under investigation.
Dujardin, a three-time Olympic champion and one of the stars of Team GB, was bidding to become Britain’s most decorated female Olympian at this summer’s Games in Paris.
The 39-year-old said she is “deeply ashamed” and the incident “was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses or coach my pupils”.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 21:00
Why is Jaylen Brown not on the US Olympic basketball team?
The Boston Celtics guard is fresh off winning his first NBA championship and the award of Finals MVP, but he was not picked as part of national team director Grant Hill’s original squad.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 20:30
Australia Olympics chief criticises Dutch team for selecting convicted rapist Steven van de Velde
Australian Olympics chief Anna Meares has said that a convicted rapist would not be picked for the country’s Olympics team, after Steven van de Velde was named in the Netherlands’ beach volleyball squad.
Van de Velde, now aged 29, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to three counts of rape against a child when he was 19. He met his 12-year-old victim on Facebook, and travelled from Amsterdam to Milton Keynes, where the incident happened in 2014.
Van de Velde, who was allowed to serve his sentence in the Netherlands, was behind bars for just 12 months of the four years and then resumed his career in volleyball, competing in international tournaments since 2018 and eventually being selected for the Netherlands squad for Paris 2024 in June.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 20:00
Charlotte Dujardin provisionally banned over video of alleged horse mistreatment
Charlotte Dujardin will take no part in the Olympics and has been provisionally suspended for six months by equestrian’s governing body with immediate effect after she was filmed “engaging in conduct contrary to the principles of horse welfare” four years ago.
The three-time Olympic champion had earlier pulled of Paris 2024 due to a video that shows the dressage rider “making an error of judgement during a coaching session”. She is alleged to have repeatedly hit the legs of a student’s horse with a whip while on the ground.
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) has now confirmed that it has provisionally suspended Dujardin from all competition for a period of six months while it continues its investigation into the footage.
Jamie Braidwood23 July 2024 19:49
There’s life in me yet – Jack Laugher relishing ‘old soul’ role in diving team
He is yet to turn 30 but Jack Laugher insists he is revelling in the role of an “old soul” as prepares to head into his fourth Olympics in Paris.
Having emerged unscathed from a tumultuous Tokyo cycle, the 2016 diving gold medallist hopes a wiser approach will pay dividends alongside his new synchro diving partner Anthony Harding, who will be competing at his first Games in the French capital.
“I feel like I give that fatherly feel to the team,” laughed Laugher, a relative veteran who made his Olympic debut in London 2012 at the age of 17, where he failed to reach the semi-final stage.
Callum Rice-Coates23 July 2024 19:30