East Yorkshire Olympian Lottie Fry adds individual bronze to team triumph in dressage at Paris Games

Charlotte “Lottie” Fry described winning her first individual Olympic medal in the dressage Grand Prix Freestyle as “crazy”.

Fresh from winning bronze in the team event at the Chateau de Versailles at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France, Lottie and her stallion Glamourdale achieved a mark of 88.971 per cent to secure another bronze, behind German riders Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and Isabell Werth. The competition went down to the final rider, with Denmark's Cathrine Laudrup-Dafour, scoring 88.093 per cent to ensure Lottie’s position on the podium - although she admitted she was unaware of her win until the very last moment.

Lottie, 28, who is from Aike, near Driffield, said: “I’m speechless, it’s absolutely amazing and I am so proud of Glamourdale. I knew he was capable of it but to be able to pull it off in there today and get the bronze is just incredible.

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“The support from the crowd was amazing and the prizegiving was just insane – that feeling of going round with Jessica and Isabell, two idols and huge inspirations in our sport, was just incredible. I didn’t watch any of them, I knew they were all very good, I kind of didn’t want to disappoint myself and I was happy with my ride.

“We were on way back to the stables and thought we’d better check the scores before we started packing up and suddenly a lot of screaming was going on! To get the team bronze was amazing and I think it was so well deserved and then to get an individual medal is crazy.”

Fellow Brits Carl Hester and Becky Moody (who stepped into the team at the last moment following the withdrawal and provisional suspension of Charlotte Dujardin), who joined Lottie in the team bronze win, also competed in the individuals, finishing sixth and eighth respectively. Lottie’s late mother Laura also competed for Britain, riding alongside Hester at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

“She’s always in my thoughts but especially at an Olympics,” said Lottie. “She was also on the team with Carl in ’92, so the fact I’m on teams with him now is very special. I think she is with me all the time and I hope she would be proud of me.”