Four-time Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Wells MBE says she has ambitions to compete at the Olympics in Tokyo 2020.
Sophie Wells MBE won three medals at London 2012 and a gold in Rio 2016 in Individual Championship Test Grade IV in para-equestrian riding.
She was born with amniotic band syndrome, which means she has no feeling or movement in her feet and has lost a number of fingers.
Speaking on Sports Week, she said: “I still have dreams of competing in the Olympics able-bodied a lot of that depends on horse power as well so that is a little dream that is on the side.
“At the moment I want to go to the Europeans and build up to Tokyo in three years time and be the best rider I can be; I have started coaching for a few years, developing riders hopefully into future medal winners and if I can keep on doing that, I am very fortunate.
“I think it would be a great thing competing at the able bodied Olympics; when I first started in able-bodied competitions I went to my first young rider Europeans and everybody would stare and wonder what I was doing.
“They didn’t know how to take it but by the time I went for a second time, opinions had changed and they realised I was there to do the same thing they wanted to do.
“For me it’s not about disability I did not want to be treated differently I just wanted the opportunity like everybody else.”
She also thinks better coverage of the most recent Paralympics has helped changed views on disabilities.
She said: “I think the attitude around the sport has changed massively because there is more exposure to it now thanks to London and Rio.
“When I went into the sport it was so different from what I had expected.
“It is amazing to see disabilities overcome and the people behind them because you see disabilities first and people second.
“Once you are in it you see it the other way around, you don’t see a disability but a talent on the horse.”
For more from Sophie Wells MBE, watch the March 8 episode of Sports Week on Notts TV at 7.30pm, or see our catch up service.
