Just five years ago, Beth Dobbin was sprinting on the world’s biggest athletic stage at the Olympics. Today, the 32-year-old former track star spends more than 22 hours a day in bed, battling a debilitating illness that has completely transformed her life.
The Scottish athlete, who represented Great Britain in the women’s 200 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has revealed the devastating impact of myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS.
In an emotional interview with BBC Sport published October 16, Dobbin explained that even ordinary activities, such as talking, sitting upright or visiting a doctor, can leave her severely ill for weeks or months.
She knows that simply sharing her story could have lasting consequences.
“I’ve done little things like attend a blood test at the doctors and been in bed for months after,” Dobbin said.
She admitted that speaking for 30 minutes during the interview could affect her health well into 2027, but felt raising awareness was worth the risk.
Dobbin’s condition is a dramatic departure from her life as an elite sprinter.
At the height of her career, she trained for hours each day, competed internationally and set a Scottish record in the 200 meters.
She represented Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics and went on to win a bronze medal with Scotland’s women’s 4×400-meter relay team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
However, her health began deteriorating after she experienced COVID-19 and glandular fever, also known as infectious mononucleosis, during 2021 and 2022.
At first, she attributed her exhaustion to a demanding competition schedule. But the symptoms gradually became impossible to ignore.
She developed dizziness, muscle pain, sleep disturbances and persistent fatigue that did not improve with rest.
During one race at the European Championships, Dobbin lost sensation in her legs while positioned in the starting blocks, resulting in a false start.
As her condition worsened, she consulted several specialists before receiving her ME/CFS diagnosis.
Unlike ordinary tiredness, ME/CFS is a complex chronic illness that can severely limit physical and mental activity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, its defining features include profound fatigue and a worsening of symptoms following exertion.
That worsening, known as post-exertional malaise, can occur after activities that most people would consider routine.
For Dobbin, the effects are overwhelming.
She now leaves bed primarily to eat or use the bathroom and has lost the independence she once enjoyed.
She described the sensation of her body shutting down, saying it sometimes feels as though she is only days away from death.
“It’s life-decimating,” she told BBC Sport. “I feel like I’ve lost everything.”
Although she remains grateful for her family’s support, she said the illness has taken away her career, her ability to exercise and much of her everyday independence.
Dobbin announced her retirement from competitive athletics in April 2026, bringing an end to a career she had spent approximately two decades building.
Her family has also struggled to watch her health decline.
Her father, former professional soccer player Jim Dobbin, has spoken about the helplessness of seeing his daughter suffer without being able to make her better.
Her sister, Faye, is planning to run a marathon to raise money for ME research, hoping to contribute to efforts to understand the condition and develop more effective treatments.
Currently, there is no known cure for ME/CFS, although symptoms can sometimes be managed with individualized medical care.
The condition is also far more common than many Americans realize.
The CDC estimates that between 836,000 and 3.3 million people in the United States have ME/CFS, with many cases remaining undiagnosed.
Researchers have also noted similarities between ME/CFS and some forms of long COVID, particularly the exhaustion and symptom flare-ups that can follow physical or mental activity.
While the two conditions are not identical, growing research into post-viral illnesses has brought renewed attention to patients with ME/CFS.
Dobbin hopes that increased awareness will eventually lead to better treatment options and greater understanding.
She is particularly concerned about people who struggle to have their symptoms taken seriously because their illness is not immediately visible.
The former Olympian acknowledged that her athletic background may make others more willing to believe her account.
Many patients, she explained, have been dismissed as lazy or accused of exaggerating their symptoms.
Dobbin wants to challenge those assumptions by showing how dramatically the illness has affected someone who once competed among the world’s fastest runners.
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