Olivia Breen - The story so far and her success at the Para Olympics 2021
Olivia Breen, grand-daughter of David and Gwyneth Smith, members of our Cardiff Fellowship has featured in our magazine a couple of times since her initial appearance at the London Paralympic games in 2012 at 16 years of age.
You may recall that Olivia was born on 26th July 1996 and contracted a meningitis type illness shortly after birth which left her with cerebral palsy, hearing impaired and some learning difficulties. She always found school difficult but loved sports day and in early 2012 was classified as a T38 athlete and went on to represent Team GB in London in the 100m and 200m and as part of the T35-38 relay team in which she won a bronze medal in front of family and friends.
Since then Olivia has been part of two world record breaking and gold medal winning T35-38 relay teams and competed in many events as part of Team Wales and Team GB. In the summer of 2017 Olivia became world Champion in the T38 long jump in front of a home ground which included her proud and delighted grandparents. She followed this the following April by winning a gold medal in the T38 Long Jump at the Commonwealth Games and also a bronze in the 100m.
Olivia lives and trains in Loughborough and training and competing for Team GB is her life. In November 2019 she ran a significant personal best in the 100m and won a bronze in the T38 Long Jump at the World Championships in Dubai. Olivia was feeling very excited and confident for the Paralympics in Tokyo the following August.
Of course a few months after this everyone’s worlds changed with the arrival of Covid-19! In March Olivia had travelled home to her parents house in Hampshire as she had damaged a rib in training. A few days into her stay she had to make the incredibly difficult decision about where she would isolate as it was becoming increasingly clear that the UK would go into a national lockdown. Obviously nobody had a crystal ball at the time and none of us knew for how long this would last. Olivia decided that she would move out of her shared house in Loughborough and isolate at home with her family and it soon became clear she had made the right decision as within a few days the High Performance Athletics Centre at Loughborough University shut its doors and remained closed for the next six months.
In March 2020 it was almost impossible to acquire home gym equipment but Olivia was very lucky as her parents already had a lot of gym equipment. They also live a few miles from a 110m track which had a gap in the fence which Livvy used along with one of her teammates. Soon after the announcement came that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics would be postponed for a year. For all the athletes who had trained so hard for four years this was a devastating blow and Olivia was no exception. After a few days though Olivia decided to use the extra time positively and probably trained even harder than normal. She didn’t have access to her coach but sent him videos after every session for his feedback. When Livvy wasn’t training she was walking with family or out on bike rides or doing yoga with her mum.
Eventually in September 2020 the High Performance Centre once again opened its doors to elite athletes but the world was obviously now a very different place with new restrictions and protocols in place. Livvy cautiously protected herself from any contact with Covid-19 as she saw the devastating consequences it could have.
Just before Christmas 2020 Olivia received the dreadful news that she had a grade 3 tear in her shoulder labrum. Surgery was contemplated but it was decided she wouldn’t have enough recovery time for the Tokyo Paralympics. So with the help of the GB physios she began the rehabilitation process of the shoulder. Fortunately it worked and Olivia was able to compete in a few events in the early Summer. Sadly in her final competition before Paralympic selection the tear became worse and significantly more painful. A course of injections meant Olivia could still contemplate the Games and she is now scheduled to have the tear repaired in October.
As the Games approached the number of Covid cases increased so Olivia decided to completely isolate herself and hired an Airbnb for ten days to give herself the best opportunity of avoiding the virus and all she did was attend training.
She left for Tokyo on 12th August and arrived in Yokohama for a 14 day holding camp. Covid restrictions were incredibly strict with at least once daily testing taking place, being kept completely separate from the public and only being able to walk accompanied by a security guard for 20 minutes. This was hard for the outdoorsy Olivia but at least she stayed Covid free and didn’t have to isolate like some athletes. Olivia also didn’t really get over jet lag for the entire period and didn’t get anywhere near as much sleep as she needed. When she arrived in the village, conditions were not as restrictive and Olivia was able to meet her athlete friends from around the world – this is the part Olivia loves the most!
Olivia’s first event was the 100m on 28th August. She had another bad nights sleep the night before the mornings heat. She was very nervous but managed to qualify as one of the fastest losers in 4th place. That night she finished the race in sixth place. She was disappointed but philosophical about her placing. She knew the long jump her main event was yet to come on the evening of 31st August. Olivia is now a relatively experienced competitor but she was still anxious about how well her shoulder would withstand. After initially setting a Paralympic record with her first jump Olivia finished the competition in third place and won her first individual Paralympic medal and she hasn’t stopped smiling since!
She is now enjoying a few weeks rest – catching up with friends and enjoying life to the full.