| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Great Britain | ||
| Equestrian | ||
| Paralympic Games | ||
| Gold | 2008 Beijing | Freestyle test grade Ia |
| Gold | 2008 Beijing | Team open |
| Silver | 2008 Beijing | Championship test grade Ia |
| Bronze | 2004 Athens | Championship test grade I |
Sophie Margaret Christiansen MBE (born 14 November 1987) is a British equestrian who has twice competed in the Paralympic Games.[1][2]
Christiansen was born two months prematurely with cerebral palsy and suffered from other health problems including jaundice, blood poisoning, a heart attack and a collapsed lung.[3] At the age of six she began horse riding as a form of physiotherapy at her local Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) group.[4]
She first competed at the Paralympics aged 16 and was the youngest athlete for Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Paralympics.[2] She contested both the freestyle and championship dressage grade I, the classification grade for severely disabled athletes.[5][6] In the freestyle event Christiansen finished fourth with the gold medal being won by British teammate Lee Pearson.[7] The championship grade I dressage saw Christiansen win her first Paralympic medal. Competing with her horse Hotstuff, she took bronze with gold again being won by Pearson.[8][9] She was named BBC London Disabled Athlete of the Year for 2004.[10]
Following her success in Athens Christiansen was selected to be part of the British team at the 2005 European Championships held in Hungary where she won three gold medals.[11][12] At the World Championships in 2007 she won a gold medal in the freestyle dressage and a bronze medal in the individual dressage event.[13]
In 2008 she represented Great Britain at the Summer Paralympics. The equestrian events were not held in the host city Beijing but instead took place at the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Hong Kong. Competing in her second Games she again contested the freestyle and championship dressage events but was also part of the British quartet in the team dressage.[5] On her horse Lambrusco she won an individual gold medal in the freestyle and silver in the championship dressage.[14][15] In the team open Christiansen, with teammates Lee Pearson, Anne Dunham and Simon Laurens won her second Paralympic gold medal. This meant that Great Britain has won a gold medal in this event at four consecutive Games.[16]
Christiansen was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to disabled sport.[17][18]