Britain has traditionally been one of the top nations at the Paralympics and at the Beijing 2008 Games, achieved a fantastic haul of 102 medals  - 42 of which were gold – to finish second behind China.

 

Briscoe said: "I guess the stated aim across the sporting landscape is to finish second on the medal table while winning more medals in more sports [than we did in Beijing] and that is a collective aspiration in terms UK Sport and Paralympics GB.

 

"So there is a medal range we have in mind but it obviously depends on everybody delivering.

 

"It's all about a collective target rather than individual components and we need everybody to perform at the Games to get as far as we possibly can."

 

But Briscoe believes, that with Britain enjoying home advantage in the Paralympics for the first time since 1984 when Stoke Mandeville staged the Games jointly with New York, they could even surpass expecatations.

 

She said: "We've consistently been in the top four at the Paralympics and we believe we are good enough to consolidate the second place we achieved in Beijing.

 

"I also believe we're good enough to make inroads in terms of China [who claimed 211 medals and 89 gold medals – twice as many as Britain - in Beijing].

 

"We have fantastic facilities for Paralympic athletes in this country and now is the most amazing time for Paralympic sport in Britain in terms of both funding and opportunity.

 

"The home Games in London is just the icing on the cake."

 

Following Rio de Janeiro's triumph in winning the bid to follow London as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Briscoe reflects with great fondness on London’s triumph to win the right to host the 2012 Games when the announcement was made in Singapore in 2005.

 

She said: "I was at home on my own when the announcement was made [that London would host the Games] and I ran around the house like someone who had just won the lottery.

 

"I think for anybody in Britain involved in sport, they can completely understand that analogy.

 

"It is like winning the lottery because it's the opportunity to perform not only on the biggest stage but in front of a home crowd and I don’t think its get any bigger or any better than that.

 

"It just gives me goose bumps thinking about it and I think it is a massive attraction and lure for any of the athletes trying to get there."

 

Briscoe is also adamant that London will leave a Paralympic legacy that the nation can be proud of.

 

She said: "Legacy is crucial and I think it involves everything from educating both the disabled public and the general public in terms of opportunity to raising awareness of what the opportunities are on a sport specific basis like what is available for disabled people locally."

 

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