Sophie Christiansen

Sophie Margaret Christiansen, CBE (born 14 November 1987) is an English equestrian who has competed in three successive Paralympic Games,[1][2] winning numerous medals. In 2012 and 2016 she gained three gold medals at the paralympics.[3]

Sophie Christiansen
CBE
One of three golds at Rio in 2016
Personal information
Birth nameSophie Margaret Christiansen
Born (1987-11-14) 14 November 1987
Ascot, Bracknell Forest, Berkshire, England
Sport
Country United Kingdom
SportPara equestrian
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals2004, 2008, 2012, 2016
Highest world ranking1
Medal record
Para equestrian
Representing  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
2008 Beijing Freestyle test grade Ia
2008 Beijing Team open
2012 London Freestyle test grade Ia
2012 London Championship test grade Ia
2012 London Team championship
2016 Rio Freestyle test grade Ia
2016 Rio Championship test grade Ia
2016 Rio Team championship
2008 Beijing Championship test grade Ia
2004 Athens Championship test grade I

Life

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.[4] At the age of six she began horse riding as a form of physiotherapy at her local Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) group. She was educated at Charters School in Sunningdale, and left in 2006 to study for a master's degree in mathematics at Royal Holloway, University of London.[5]

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.[6][7] In the freestyle event Christiansen finished fourth with the gold medal being won by British teammate Lee Pearson.[8] 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.[9][10] She was named BBC London Disabled Athlete of the Year for 2004.[11]

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.[12][13] At the World Championships in 2007 she won a gold medal in the freestyle dressage and a bronze medal in the individual dressage event.[14]

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.[6] On her horse Lambrusco she won an individual gold medal in the freestyle and silver in the championship dressage.[15][16] 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.[17]

Christiansen was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to disabled sport.[18][19] She has a MSci degree (undergraduate honours) in mathematics from the University of London's Royal Holloway College.[20]

Paralympics 2012 saw her claim gold once again as BBC reports: "Sophie Christiansen – Equestrian – Individual Freestyle Test Grade la. How she did it: Sophie won gold with a score of 84.75 on her horse Janeiro 6 finishing 5.75 points ahead of her closest rival." [21] In honour of her achievements at the London 2012 games the Royal Mail have painted a postbox gold in her original hometown of Sunningdale.[22] She is Britain's first triple gold medallist at the Paralympic games.[23]

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to equestrianism.[24][25]

In 2015 Christiansen won a 'Women of the Future Award'. It was the first year that a sports category was included and the judges picked out Sophie for her ‘ferocious determination to succeed'.[26]

Christiansen is a patron of the charity Chance for Childhood.[27] In 2015, she visited their projects with disabled children in northern Rwanda.[28]

Christiansen also works as a statistical analyst in the technology department at investment bank Goldman Sachs and has a first class Masters degree in mathematics. In an interview with City AM she talked about the benefits of having "something else to think about".[29] She told The Times that working two days a week helped to "lessen the intensity" of competing at a high level in sport.[30]

In 2016, she gained three gold medals at the paralympics in Rio.[3] She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to para-equestrianism.[31]

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See also
  • 2012 Olympics gold post boxes in the United Kingdom

References
  1. "Sophie Christiansen MBE". Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  2. "Paralympic challengers: Sophie Christiansen". BBC Sport. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  3. Sophie Christainsen, Rio2016, Retrieved 17 September 2016
  4. Honeyball, Lee (4 August 2002). "Sophie Christiansen, Paralympic dressage". The Observer. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  5. "Charters School Alumni". Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  6. Results for Sophie Christiansen from the International Paralympic Committee (archived)
  7. "Sports Classification". British Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  8. "More glory for dressage duo". BBC Sport. 23 September 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  9. "Team GB collect six golds". BBC Sport. 21 September 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  10. "Golden repeat for Pearson". icbirmingham.co.uk. 22 September 2004. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  11. "Christiansen rides to further glory". Bracknell Forest Standard. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  12. "GB dressage team shine at Euros". BBC Sport. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  13. "Great Britain Supreme at IPC Equestrian European Championships". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  14. "Pearson leads GB to world glory". BBC Sport. 22 July 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  15. Davies, Gareth A (10 September 2008). "Paralympics: Great Britain vie with China". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  16. "GB collect three equestrian golds". BBC Sport. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  17. "Dunham claims record fourth gold". BBC Sport. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  18. "No. 58929". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2008. p. 16.
  19. Pyle, Mike (31 December 2008). "Paralympian says MBE was a 'big surprise'". Bracknell Forest Standard. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  20. Royal Holloway notable alumni
  21. "ParalympicsGB's London 2012 medal roll of honour". BBC Sport. September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  22. "Postbox painted gold to celebrate Paralympian Sophie Christiansen". Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  23. "Triple gold medallist Sophie". Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  24. "No. 60367". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2012. p. 24.
  25. "2013 New Year's Honours" (PDF). Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  26. "'Ferocious determination to succeed' earns Sophie Christiansen coverted [sic] award". Horse and Hound. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  27. "Our patrons | Chance for Childhood - Children's charity". Chance for Childhood. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  28. Prinsloo, Karel; Holt, Kate; Miller, Will; Production, Source: Arete Stories (12 April 2015). "Sophie Christiansen meets disabled children in northern Rwanda - video". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  29. "Sophie Christiansen interview: Five-time Paralympic champion on why City banking job is vital to her success". City AM. 28 March 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  30. "'It takes a unique person to do what I do'". The Times. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  31. "No. 61803". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2016. p. N8.
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