City of Portsmouth AC’s Olivia Breen selected to GB Paralympics team for Tokyo

City of Portsmouth AC member Olivia Breen competes during the Women's Long Jump final at last weekend's British Athletics Championships in Manchester. The shorts she is wearing were deemed 'too revealing' by an official. Photo by Ashley Allen/Getty Images.

The 24-year-old has been selected for the T38 long jump and the 100m.

Breen, who first started training with City of Portsmouth when she was nine, will be seeking her first Paralympic gold in Japan.

She won bronze in the women’s 4x 100m relay T35-38 at London 2012, but since then has won two World Championship golds and a Commonwealth Games gold.

Breen scooped World gold in in the 4 x 100m T35-38 relay in Doha in 2015 and two years later triumphed in the T38 long jump in London.

She won another gold in the T38 long jump at the last Commonwealths in Australia in 2018.

Last month Breen won bronze in the long jump at the European Para Athletics Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

She hit the national headlines earlier this week after being told to wear ‘more appropriate’ shorts during the English Championships.

Guildford-born Breen revealed an official at the event told her the shorts she was wearing were ‘too short and revealing’.

‘It made me feel really angry and it's very wrong,’ said Breen, who was wearing her City of Portsmouth AS vest.

‘You know they can't comment on what we can and can't wear.’

Reigning Paralympic champion Jonnie Peacock, meanwhile, is also among the 32 competitors added to ParalympicsGB’s athletics team.

Sprinter Peacock, who has been selected for the T64 100m and 4x100m universal relay, will bid to make it a hat-trick of Paralympic titles in Tokyo following glory at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Six-time Paralympic gold medallist David Weir has also been selected, in addition to fellow former champions Dan Greaves, Libby Clegg and Kadeena Cox.

Wheelchair racer Weir will compete in the T54 1500m, 5000m and marathon at his sixth Paralympics, while F64 discus thrower Greaves has won medals at each of his previous five Games, including gold in 2004 in Athens.

Cox, who will also be competing in cycling in Japan, will defend her T38 400m title, with Clegg – a double Paralympic champion from 2016 – set to contest the T11 200m alongside guide runner Chris Clarke.

Newly-crowned European champions Columba Blango (T20 400m), Dan Pembroke (F13 javelin) and Zak Skinner (T13 long jump and 100m) have earned call-ups for their first Paralympics.

Para Athletics head coach Paula Dunn said: ‘We have selected an incredibly strong squad of athletes who have excelled at past Games, to those who have progressed significantly during the last cycle, to a number of futures academy athletes who have stepped up in recent times to put themselves in contention.

‘It is a testament to all the hard work from the athletes, coaches and their support networks, their family and friends.

‘We will be supporting everyone on the team so they will be in the best position to achieve their goals in Japan next month.’

The newly-announced athletes join 12 others who were selected as part of the first wave team announcement in June.

The Tokyo Paralympics take place between August 24 and September 5.

Athletes added to ParalympicsGB’s athletics squad:

Women: Olivia Breen (T38 long jump, 100m), Lydia Church (F12 shot put), Libby Clegg (T11 200m, 4x100m universal relay, guide runner: Chris Clarke), Kadeena Cox (T38 400m), Sophie Kamlish (T64 100m, 4x100m universal relay), Sammi Kinghorn (T53 100m, 400m, 800m, 4x100m universal relay), Polly Maton (T47 long jump), Anna Nicholson (F35 shot put), Gemma Prescott (F32 club throw), Stef Reid (T64 long jump), Hannah Taunton (T20 1500m), Ali Smith (T38 100m, 400m, 4x100m universal relay), Vanessa Wallace (F34 shot put).

Men: Columba Blango (T20 400m), Richard Chiassaro (T54 400m, 800m, 1500m), David Devine (T13 5000m) Kyron Duke (F41 shot put), Dan Greaves (F64 discus), Harri Jenkins (T33 100m), Nathan Maguire (T54 400m, 800m, 4x100m universal relay), Owen Miller (T20 1500m), Luke Nuttall (T46 1500m), Jonnie Peacock (T64 100m, 4x100m universal relay), Dan Pembroke (F13 Javelin), Derek Rae (T46 marathon), Ben Rowlings (T34 100m, 800m), Daniel Sidbury (T54 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m), Zak Skinner (T13 long jump, 100m), JohnBoy Smith (T54 marathon), Isaac Towers (T34 800m), Harrison Walsh (F64 discus), David Weir (T54 1500m, 5000m, marathon).