Charlotte Fry (born 11 February 1996) is an Olympic, European Championships and World Championships medal-winning British

dressage Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...

rider. As of August 2024, Fry has a total of 90 victories and is currently third in the FEI World Dressage Ranking.

Early life

Born in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, England to Laura Fry, who competed at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Fry started riding at a young age. At age 14, she started training with Olympic Champion

Carl Hester Carl Hester (born 29 June 1967 in Cambridgeshire, England) is a British dressage rider competing at Olympic level. As of 8 August 2012, the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) rank him 12th in the world riding Uthopia. In 2012, Hest ...

, eventually working for him part-time in exchange for lessons. Hester told former Danish Olympian Anne van Olst about Fry, after which Charlotte moved to the Netherlands to train with van Olst. Since 2014, she has lived and worked in

Den Hout Den Hout is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Oosterhout. The village was first mentioned in 1311 as "Rolinus dictus van den Houte", and means deciduous forest. The area around Den Hout was ...

, Netherlands, though she still represents Great Britain in competitions.

Career

In 2018, at age 22, Fry became World Champion at the World Championships for Young Horses in Ermelo, riding Glamourdale in the 7-years old division. She also won at the 2018 European Championships for Grand Prix riders under the age of 25 in

Exloo Exloo (Low German: Eksel) is a village in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Drenthe, Netherlands, part of the List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Borger-Odoorn. It lies about 12 km north of Emmen, Netherlan ...

, Netherlands, with her horse Dark Legend. Fry competed at the 2019 European Championships in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, Netherlands where she placed 4th with the British dressage team. She continues to train in Den Hout, Netherlands with former Danish Olympian Anne van Olst. She was selected to represent Great Britain during the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. She won the bronze team medal and ended 13th in the individual competition. A month later she won gold at the World Championships for Young Horses in Verden, Germany, with the Dutch-bred Kjento. In the

2022 FEI World Championships The 2022 ECCO FEI World Championships were held in Herning, Denmark. It was the ninth edition of the Games, which are held every four years and run by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI). For team events in the dressage a ...

in Herning, Denmark, Charlotte competed with Glamourdale to win Silver in the Grand Prix and Gold in both the Individual Grand Prix Special and the Individual Grand Prix Freestyle. On 16 December 2022, the pair won the 5th leg of the FEI Dressage World Cup, West Europe League, with a personal best of 90.995% in the Freestyle. In 2024, Fry was eliminated from the dressage World Cup Final in

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

after blood was found around her horses mouth. Vets assessed it as a minor injury that would heal quickly. At the 2024 Amsterdam Grand Prix, in which she competed with Everdale, Fry was one of several riders whose horses were photographed with a blue tongue, suggesting restriction and heavy handedness had cut off oxygen and blood supply to the tongue. Fry and Everdale would go on to win the event. Representing Great Britain at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France, Fry won an individual bronze medal in the Grand Prix Freestyle riding Glamourdale, as well as a team bronze medal in the Team Grand Prix Special. In December 2024, Fry and Glamourdale won the dressage freestyle at the London International Horse Show at the ExCeL, the fifth leg of the

Dressage World Cup The FEI World Cup Dressage Final is an annual international dressage series involving the world's best dressage horses and riders. It has been held since 1985. The World Cup is run in the form of a CDI. History The history of the World Cup ...

's Western European League.

References

External links

Fry's page
at Olympedia.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Charlotte 1996 births Living people British female equestrians British dressage riders English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands English female equestrians Equestrians at the 2020 Summer Olympics Equestrians at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic equestrians for Great Britain Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in equestrian Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain People from Driffield Sportspeople from Scarborough, North Yorkshire Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century English sportswomen