Olivia Breen

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Olivia Breen
Olivia Breen 100m finalists (2k) (cropped).jpg
in 2017
Personal information
Full nameOlivia Grace Helena Breen
Nickname(s)Livvy
Nationality United Kingdom
Born (1996-07-26) 26 July 1996 (age 25)
Guildford, England
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportAthletics
Event(s)T38 sprint and F38 long jump
ClubCity of Portsmouth
Coached byJonas Tawiah-Dodoo/Julie Hollman
Achievements and titles
Paralympic finals2012
Highest world rankingT38 100m: 2nd
T38 200m: 3rd
Personal best(s)100m sprint: 13.34 secs
200m sprint: 28.07 secs
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Medal record
Track and field (athletics)
Representing  Great Britain
Paralympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2012 London Women's 4x100m Relay T35-T38
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Long jump – T38
IPC World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Doha 4x100m relay – T35-38
Gold medal – first place 2017 London Long jump – T38
IPC European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2016 Grosseto 100m – T35-38
Silver medal – second place 2014 Swansea 100m – T35-38
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Stadskanaal 100m – T38
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Stadskanaal 200m – T38
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Swansea 100m – T38
Representing  Wales
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Gold Coast Long jump – T38
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Gold Coast 100m – T38

Olivia "Livvy" Breen (born 26 July 1996) is a Welsh Paralympian athlete, who competes mainly in T38 sprint and F38 long jump events. In 2012, she qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, selected for the T38 100m and 200m sprint and is also part of the T35-38 women's relay team. She has also represented Wales at both the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, winning gold in the long jump at the Gold Coast games in 2018.[1][2]

Early life[]

Breen was born in England to a Welsh mother and Irish father. Breen, who has cerebral palsy, began racing while still at primary school.[3]

Career[]

Breen was given her T38 classification in January 2012, allowing her to be brought into contention for Paralympic selection.[4] In June 2012 she competed in the IPC Athletics European Championships in Stadskanaal in the Netherlands, winning the bronze in both the 100m and 200m sprints.[5] She recorded a personal best in the 100m at the European championships, and followed this with a personal best in the 200m sprint at the Diamond League meet at Crystal Palace, London early in July.[5] Her times resulted in a late call up to the Great Britain team for the 2012 Summer Paralympics. She was the youngest member of the Great Britain Paralympic athletics team during the 2012 Games.[5]

Breen is coached by Aston Moore a long jump coach based in Loughborough.[citation needed]

2012 Paralympic Games in London[]

Breen competed in London in the T38 100m and 200m sprints, and the first leg of the T35-38 women's relay team.

100m: Breen came fifth in the 100m final with a time of 14.42. The winning time was posted by Margarita Goncharova at 13.45s.[6]

200m: After qualifying as the second fastest runner up, Breen came in eighth in the 200m final with a time of 30.22s.

4 × 100 m relay: Breen (who ran the first leg of the relay final) won a bronze medal with team mates Jenny McLoughlin, Bethy Woodward and Katrina Hart[7] with a time of 56.08s[8] which was a season's best. The final baton change between Hart and McLoughlin was poor as a result of a bump from the Australian athlete in the next lane but the team was judged to have correctly handed the baton moments before the last team member exited the hand-over zone, while in the same race two opposing teams were disqualified, one being the Australian team.

Katrina Hart, Olivia Breen, Georgina Hermitage, Bethany Tucker, Kadeena Cox and Sophie Hahn in 2017

2013 IPC World Championships in Lyon[]

Breen finished fifth in both the 100m and 200m in Lyon at the IPC World Championships.

2014[]

Breen switched from sprints to compete in the long jump for Wales at the Commonwealth Games finishing narrowly out of the medals in seventh place.

The teenager then went on to compete at the IPC European Championships where she won individual bronze in the 100m behind teammate Sophie Hahn and Russia's Margarita Goncharova just a few months after recording a new personal best over the distance – 13.47.

Breen then ran the second leg of the T35-38 relay team, which included Bethany Woodward, Sophie Hahn and Jenny McLoughlin. The team went on to win silver behind Russia in a new British record of 53.84.

2017[]

Olivia Breen at the 2017 Paragames celebrating a gold medal

At the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London Breen secured a gold medal in the F38 Long Jump jumping a lifetime best of 4.81m.[9] A few days later she came fourth in the T38 100m.

2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo[]

Breen is part of the GBteam to compete at the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.[10]

References[]

  1. ^ "Breen hoping for a double celebration at Commonwealth Games", The News, 6 July 2014 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 July 2014
  2. ^ Henson, Mike (8 April 2018). "Commonwealth Games: Nick Miller and Olivia Breen win gold medals". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  3. ^ "Olivia Breen". paralympics.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ^ McMahin, Mark (11 July 2012). "Breen is fast-tracked to Games". portsmouth.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Olivia Breen". thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  6. ^ "London 2012 Official Results". Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.
  7. ^ "Welsh Sprinters earn Bronze". Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  8. ^ "London 2012 Official Results". Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  9. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/17/olivia-breen-gold-long-jump-hannah-cockroft-richard-whitehead-world-para-athletics-championships
  10. ^ "Paralympian Olivia Breen left 'speechless' after being told her shorts were too short and 'revealing'". The Independent. 20 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.

External links[]

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