Olympic stars Charlotte Dujardin and Nick Skelton to lead Olympia parade
Friday night visitors to Olympia will be able to cheer as Olympic heroes Nick Skelton and Charlotte Duardin lead a celebratory parade.
The London International Horse Show, Olympia (13-19 December), will welcome the 2016 Olympic and Paralymic medallists for the special event.
Individual 2016 gold medallists Charlotte and Nick will lead the parade, to hail the British riders’ Rio success.
Charlotte will be joined by her dressage teammates Carl Hester, Spencer Wilton and Fiona Bigwood, who together claimed team silver at Rio.
Rio flag bearer Lee Pearson, who has now won gold medals in each of his five Paralympic Games, will also join the parade.
He will be commemorating his achievements on the night alongside triple Rio gold medallist Sophie Christiansen and her teammates and fellow medallists Sophie Wells and Anne Dunham.
“We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming such an exceptional group of riders to the Olympia Grand Hall and it will be a privilege to be able to applaud their exceptional achievements at the show,” said Olympia director Simon Brooks-Ward.
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British Equestrian Federation chief executive Clare Salmon added: “We are delighted to be able to recognise the fantastic achievements of our athletes in Rio at Olympia this year.
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“It has been a great year for equestrian sport and what better way to celebrate than to share the moment with some of our fantastic supporters?”
Charlotte will be retiring Valegro on the Wednesday night at Olympia in front of a sellout crowd following the World Cup freestyle competition.
“Valegro is a once in a lifetime horse and owes us nothing. I can’t wait to take him to Olympia and give him the send-off he deserves,” said Charlotte.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.