Saudi female showjumper will not ride at the Olympics
The body for international horse sport (FEI) and the International Olympic Commission (IOC) are likely to put out statements later today correcting reports that Saudi Arabia will send a female rider to the 2012 Olympics.
Although Saudi Arabia has now agreed to allow its female athletes to compete for their country, stories that showjumper Dalmas Rushdi Malhas will ride at Greenwich are not correct.
The 20-year-old rider had not qualified to ride at the Olympic by the cut off date of 17 June and so it is not possible for her to compete there.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.