Five years after representing Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics, Beth Dobbin is living with an illness that has left her unable to train, work or manage ordinary daily activities. The 32-year-old now spends more than 22 hours a day in bed, and even speaking publicly about her condition could worsen her symptoms for months. She has chosen to tell her story anyway, hoping that people with myalgic encephalomyelitis will be taken more seriously.
From Olympic sprinter to a life confined largely to bed
Dobbin, who also represented Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, told BBC Sport that she now leaves her bed only to eat or use the bathroom. She has been outside just five times this year, after a condition that initially seemed manageable gradually took away her independence.“I feel like I’ve lost everything,” she said. “I have still got my family, but I’ve lost my independence, my health, the ability to work, the ability to exercise.”Five years ago, Beth Dobbin was at the peak of her career. She was representing Team GB at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, two years after setting the Scottish record of 22.50 seconds in the 200m – her specialist event – which still stands today.But her life took a devastating turn after back-to-back Covid and glandular fever infections during the winter of 2021-22, which she later identified through retrospective tests. Initially, she noticed only slightly slower running times, an increased need for sleep and sore glands in her neck and armpits. Tests by British Athletics doctors found nothing, so she continued training, believing she was still recovering from glandular fever.Despite her worsening health, Dobbin qualified for the 2022 World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships in a demanding season. However, her symptoms intensified with each competition. At the World Championships, she struggled with a painful throat and disrupted sleep, while dizziness affected her running at the Commonwealth Games. At the European Championships, she false-started after losing all feeling in her legs while in the starting blocks.After that season, Dobbin described the experience as her “year of hell”. She returned to training after six weeks, but managed only three more weeks before her health deteriorated again.
What ME does to everyday life
Myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as ME, is a chronic, fluctuating illness associated with severe fatigue that does not improve with rest, sleep disturbances, pain and difficulties with thinking and memory. Even relatively small amounts of activity can trigger a worsening of symptoms, often called a “crash”, which can last from 24 hours to several months.For Dobbin, that means even an ordinary conversation or a medical appointment can carry serious consequences. She told BBC Sport that a 30-minute interview could affect her health well into the following year.“I’ve done little things like attend a blood test at the doctors and been in bed for months after,” she said. “So doing this interview, chatting away for 30 minutes, that could have an impact on me in 2027. But I felt like it was really important to do that to get the message out.”Dobbin rejects the description of ME as simply chronic fatigue, saying the label fails to convey the severity of the illness. “I wish it was just fatigue, that would be a walk in the park,” she said.There is no known cure or specific treatment for ME. More than 400,000 people in the UK are thought to have the condition, although the true number could exceed one million.
The struggle to find specialist care
Dobbin said she has had to explain the condition to GPs herself, while specialist NHS services for ME remain limited. After her British Athletics funding ended, she waited 22 months for a face-to-face appointment with a private specialist she had found independently.Four or five specialists, examining symptoms affecting multiple body systems, ultimately concluded that she had ME. The diagnosis, however, has not provided a clear route back to health or her former career.Her mother, Jean, and younger sister, Faye, described the emotional strain of watching Dobbin’s life change so dramatically. “You wake up every day and just feel sad,” Jean said. “She should be building her life, living her best life.”Faye said the family has often felt helpless, with her sister’s condition shaping their everyday worries. “It does feel quite like grief in a way,” she said. “I’m always worried about Beth. She’s always on my mind. I’m worried about what kind of day she is having. What if she never improves? What if she gets worse? What if she gets another virus?”Faye is due to run the Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday, October 18, to raise money for ME Research UK. She described the race as one way of helping, alongside the emotional support she continues to give her sister.
Why Dobbin has chosen to speak out
Dobbin knows that talking publicly about ME may worsen her condition, but believes her experience can help people whose symptoms are routinely misunderstood. She said people with the illness have told her that others dismiss them as lazy, while her own sporting background has meant that she is more readily believed.“Unfortunately, athletes are believed a lot more than the average person,” she said. “I’ve got a slight platform. If this happened to most people they wouldn’t be able to speak about it, so I do feel like I’ve got a bit of a duty to do that.”She remains uncertain about whether her health will improve. “It’s very bleak, unfortunately,” she said, while pointing to increased medical attention and research funding since Covid and the emergence of long Covid, which shares some symptoms with ME.“The only positive thing really to say is that Covid happened six years ago now and it’s like the whole medical community has woken up,” she said. “There will be something, I hope, in the future.”For now, Dobbin’s decision to speak is itself a considerable effort, made in the hope that greater awareness will help people living with an illness that can make even being heard physically costly.
