[ COVER STORY ]
WITH LIVVY BREEN We sat down with Olivia Breen to talk about her build-up to the Tokyo Paralympic Games, its postponement from 2020 to the summer of 2021 and her valuable experience as a student within the Oaklands Wolves Athletics Academy at Oaklands College and how it shaped her future as a professional athlete.
How did you feel when you found out you were going to represent Team GB (Great Britain) at the Tokyo Paralympic Games? To be honest it was a huge relief. For so long there was so much uncertainty surrounding the Games – would they happen, or wouldn’t they? Getting the call to say I had been selected suddenly made the Games seem real and that they would actually happen. It is always an honour to represent Team GB but this time the selection meant even more. How did you keep yourself motivated to train throughout the pandemic, did you ever think the games might not go ahead? When it was first announced that the Games would be postponed for a year I was quite down and unmotivated. My family kept telling me postponement was better than cancellation but the prospect of waiting another year was daunting. Also, the pandemic was raging, and it was hard to imagine the world ever being the same again. The Games seemed insignificant compared to everything that was going on around the world. After a few days though I gave myself a talking to and “Come on Livvy – you need to get moving!” From then
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Autumn Issue 2021
on, I literally didn’t stop moving all the way through lockdown. Tell us about Tokyo, how much of the city did you get to experience, where you allowed out of your athlete zones? If not, were you able to experience the culture from your quarters? We didn’t really see anything of Tokyo, due to COVID restrictions. In Holding Camp, we were just allowed to go to the track and from the village we only went to the stadium. However, the volunteers were amazing, and they made a massive effort to make it special for us and made a huge fuss of us. Their enthusiasm was contagious, and I can’t wait to go back to experience Japan properly. On the day of your T38 Long Jump final, how did you prepare? Do you have any rituals you follow, what is your go-to Paralympic breakfast etc? My event was in the evening, so I got up later than normal. I had a breakfast of porridge and banana – my go to event day brekkie! For the rest of the morning and early afternoon I kept myself to myself – took a little nap and watched videos of previous competitions to get in the zone. I had an amazing apartment in the village – we all got along very well, and it was so supportive – they helped me keep my head together without any stress.
