Olympian Beth Dobbin speaks out about life with ME

Olympic sprinter Beth Dobbin has described the extent to which ME has changed her life, telling BBC Sport that she now spends more than 22 hours a day in bed. The 32-year-old, who represented Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said she had left her home on only five occasions this year.

Watch the highlights:

In an interview with BBC Sport's Katie Falkingham, Dobbin said she wanted to raise awareness despite the possibility that speaking for an extended period could worsen her symptoms. She said she gets out of bed to eat and use the bathroom, and described losing her independence and the ability to work or exercise.

Dobbin traced the beginning of her difficulties to the winter of 2021-22, when she contracted Covid and glandular fever. According to the BBC report, retrospective tests identified the infections. Initially, she was sleeping more and running slightly slower, before developing sore glands and a growing sense that something was wrong. Tests arranged by British Athletics doctors did not provide answers at that stage.

She nevertheless qualified for the 2022 World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships. Dobbin told the BBC that her health worsened through that season, with throat pain and disrupted sleep at the Worlds, followed by dizziness while running at the Commonwealths. At the Europeans, she false-started after losing feeling in her legs in the starting blocks.

An extended rest after the season did not resolve the problems. Dobbin said she returned to training after six weeks but managed only three weeks before stopping again. She subsequently saw several specialists who identified ME. She said even sitting upright for a prolonged period can be difficult, and that remaining in bed reduces the severity of her symptoms rather than removing them.

Her parents and younger sister Faye joined her for the interview at the family home in Doncaster. The BBC reported that Dobbin waited 22 months for an in-person appointment with a private specialist she had found after her British Athletics funding ended. Faye is due to run the Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday to raise money for ME Research UK.

Dobbin said her sporting background had helped others believe her account, while people she had spoken to with the same illness had faced disbelief. That difference was part of her reason for speaking publicly: she wanted to use the platform available to her to draw attention to experiences that might otherwise go unheard.