Olivia Breen

Olivia "Livvy" Breen (born 26 July 1996) is a British 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. In 2014, she represented Wales at the Commonwealth Games.

History

Breen was born in Guildford, England, to a Welsh mother and Irish father. Breen, who has cerebral palsy, began racing while still at primary school. Breen was given her T38 classification in January 2012, allowing her to be brought into contention for Paralympic selection. 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. 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. 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.

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.

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 with a time of 56.08s 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.

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 fourth 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 first 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.

Other

Breen is coached at Lee Valley by Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo (sprints) and Julie Hollman (jumps).