SOPHIE Christiansen OBE has vowed to defend the three Paralympic equestrian titles she won at London 2012 when she competes in Rio.

The 2016 Summer Paralympics are due to start in South America tomorrow (Thursday) following the opening ceremony tonight (Wednesday).

Paralympics Great Britain are hoping to emulate the success of Team GB and better their London 2012 medal haul.

That means Britain will target 121 medals - one more than at London 2012 - and second place in the medal table.

Having won 42 golds and 102 medals in all in Beijing, Britain finished with 34 golds in London and slipped to third in the medal table.

But ParalympicsGB believes their squad is strong enough to win medals in each of the 19 sports that have been entered, with the only exceptions being sitting volleyball, goalball and five-a-side football.

And they will be pinning their hopes on Ascot-born Christansen to bring home another gold after picking up three of them in London four years ago.

Christiansen said: “To be selected for my fourth Paralympic Games is an absolute honour.

“It’s funny that I’m now seen as a veteran at the grand old age of 28.

“I can’t wait to see what Rio has to offer. It will be a very different Games to London but I think my time in Athens and Beijing has prepared me well.

“ I’m going there to do a job and I want to be the best I can be. It should be a really interesting Games and I’m hoping to emulate what I did at London 2012.”

Christiansen, born two months prematurely with cerebral palsy, hails from Ascot and attended Charters School in Sunningdale.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Sophie Christiansen OBE celebrates her gold medal in the individual freestyle test grade at London 2012. PIC: PA/Wire.

She currently lives in Maidenhead and learned to ride at the South Bucks Riding For The Disabled Association near Stoke Poges alongside fellow champions like Natasha Baker.

Christiansen chose Pink Floyd and Muse among her music pieces for her freestyle routine at London 2012, and she believes picking modern music is the way forward for the sport.

“I do find the music a bit boring,” she stated. “It’s for the older generation of judges and I like doing something a bit different.

“Classical music goes well with horses, it’s really an art form, but they could make it more modern.

“My colleagues at work said I should do it to hip-hop to make it more accessible to the wider audience, but I’m not too sure about that.”

Christiansen has been in sensational form since 2012, winning 11 out of 12 major competitions.

She will be competing in the most disabled category in Rio with her new horse, Athene, who survived an injury scare to make the trip.

Ironically, the previous horse she rode at London 2012 was named Rio.

She has won five Paralympic golds in all with three coming at London and another two and a silver in Beijing in 2008, plus a bronze in Athens in 2004.

Christiansen has a first in maths from Royal Holloway, and works two days a week in London as an analyst for Goldman Sachs.

A number of Berkshire-based athletes will be flying the flag for the GB Paralympic team in Rio:

Jonathan Broome-Edwards (Reading) T44 high jump; Tim Jeffrey (Newbury) shooting; Dan Brown (Reading) rowing; Tom Aggar (Maidenhead) rowing and Katie-George Dunlevy (Maidenhead) cycling.

For regular Paralympic updates go to windsorobserver.co.uk/sport