Rio Olympics 2016 dressage: Charlotte Dujardin was 'scared to death' by rise to fame after London 2012 gold

Double Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Dujardin has told how she was “scared to death” by her fame after London 2012 — but is relishing the “honour” of defending her crowns in Rio.

Britain’s most successful dressage rider, who took gold in the team and individual events in London, said she has been “living the dream” since the last Olympics.

The 31-year-old will be bidding to repeat the feat in Rio, with Great Britain’s dressage team — which also includes Carl Hester, Spencer Wilton and Fiona Bigwood — getting their campaign under way tomorrow.

Dujardin said: “Before London I was just some girl on a horse doing quite well and then we’d got a gold medal.

“We were expected to get a team gold but not individual, and then I came away and I had so much media, and I’ve never ever been in that situation. It scared me to death.

“But London, for me, was my ultimate dream — who would have thought I’d come away with two gold medals? It was living the dream.”

The team medals will be decided on Friday and Dujardin will be hoping to claim individual gold on Monday.

Dujardin, who was born and raised in Enfield and later moved to Gloucestershire, said “no one really knew much about dressage” before London 2012 and hopes Rio will boost participation in the sport even more.

She said she remembers watching footage of teammate Hester, almost 20 years her senior, as a young girl and being inspired to reach an Olympics herself.

Dujardin first rode one of her mother’s horses aged two before taking up dressage at 16 and buying her first horse with inheritance money left to her by her grandmother. “I never looked back from that point,” she said.

She will ride out on Valegro, co-owned by Hester, on whom she has won a further nine gold medals in the World Equestrian Games, European Dressage Championships and Dressage World Cup.

She said: “I don’t want to go there putting pressure on myself and that I’ve got to go there and do this or that because of what I did in London. It would be fantastic to repeat what I’ve done, but it’s sport and you never know. It’s all about us inspiring people to take up our sport.

“I’d love to aim for gold, but for me it’s all about going there and having that experience again of being at an Olympic Games. We all go there to win, but what an honour to represent my country again.”