GLOUCESTERSHIRE'S Zara Tindall has underlined her desire and determination to feature in the Great Britain selection shake-up for this summer's Rio Olympics, writes Andrew Baldock.

Former world champion Tindall returns to four-star eventing at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, which start on Thursday, with her London 2012 team silver medal-winning ride High Kingdom.

The 15-year-old gelding missed almost all of last season after suffering a freak stable accident just before dressage at the Rolex Kentucky event in America.

It means the horse has still to qualify for Rio, although that should be achieved at Badminton if Tindall and High Kingdom go anywhere near their usual level of performance.

"I would love to go to another Olympics," Tindall, The Queen's granddaughter, told Press Association Sport.

"I am very lucky to have gone to London. When we finished there, the next one (Olympics) seemed like forever away.

"It's the place to be. It is where you want to be, with the rest of the world's sport. It is a unique championship, and to be able to represent your country there is phenomenal.

"I have got to have good qualifying, and it is also about having a good result. It would be amazing to go, and it is something we are all working towards, but it is competition by competition.

"I am really looking forward to it. I haven't been here for a couple of years, and it is always nice to have a horse that is able to run at four-star level.

"There are so many in the frame (for Rio), but at the end of the day, if you don't get enough consistent results, you are not going to go anyway."

Tindall, 34, will be among the leading British challengers chasing a Badminton top prize of £80,000, although this year's event is notable for the absence through various reasons of defending champion William Fox-Pitt, three-time winner Pippa Funnell and New Zealand's former world number one Andrew Nicholson.

In terms of the Rio picture, a considerable focus will be on British riders like Tindall, Shropshire-based 2009 Badminton winner Oliver Townend, plus 2015 European Championship campaigners Nicola Wilson, Gemma Tattersall and Laura Collett, but German master Michael Jung could prove unstoppable.

Jung, the reigning Olympic and European champion, could land eventing's richest prize at Badminton by completing the Rolex Grand Slam, with him planning a major assault on the £240,000 jackpot, which is awarded to any rider that wins consecutive Burghley, Kentucky and Badminton crowns.

Funnell - a Badminton absentee this year following a fall last weekend - is the only rider to have previously achieved it, although others like Fox-Pitt, Townend and Nicholson all went close.

Jung is currently eventing's dominant performer, and Tindall added: "It happens through generations. People come in and set the bar higher, and everyone has to catch up.

"It is the way sport evolves. People get better, and we have just got to catch him up. If you are able to get to the same level, then you are hopefully knocking the door at him, but you have got to get to that level first."

Townend, drawn first to go with 17-year-old Armada in Thursday's opening session of a two-day dressage phase, also aims his 2014 World Equestrian Games ride Black Tie at Badminton title glory this year, and there are many who fancy the 33-year-old's chances.

"Both horses look like they are in good nick. We all know Armada (second with Townend in 2014), we know he has been very special," he said. "This will be his last Badminton - I am pretty certain his last four-star - so let's give him a good week.

"Black Tie being here is just very special for the owner Karyn Shuter, who brought him over from New Zealand. He cost a few hundred pounds out of a free-ads magazine in New Zealand. He's been a racehorse, he's been a gymkhana pony, and now he's at Badminton.

"It (Rio) is not my decision. I would absolutely love to go, but I have got to be on good form and prove myself again and again in these next couple of months.

"I don't think Badminton is the be-all and end-all for an Olympics. There are also a lot of CCI three-star events coming up that are also going to be a big part of the mix, and we are going to try to get good horses to each of those events."

The British selectors are due to announce a four-strong team for Rio in early July.