Twelve countries participated in the women’s Rugby Sevens at the Tokyo Olympics, two years after Japan’s Olympic stadium hosted the Rugby World Cup 2019. While New Zealand took away the gold, it was a heartbreaking loss for France by a 26–12 margin. But that was not all. Another heartbreak ensued after the bronze medal match between Fiji and Great Britain where the latter lost by a 21–12 margin. After being beaten black and blue, one British player took the defeat literally to the heart. This sent her into a downward spiral, and any attempts at medications further worsened her condition. Here’s the story of Abi Burton since the Olympics.

Opening her past wounds two years after the Tokyo Olympics, she sat for an interview to speak about the trials of medical emergencies she was subjected to. The tragic crisis of slipping into a coma and depression during this period, Burton held nothing back once she finally recovered from this long ordeal.

Abi Burton battled through life for two years post Tokyo Olympics

Abi Burton, a 23-year-old English rugby union player, couldn’t lead her country to a bronze medal at the Olympics in 2021. She felt she disappointed everyone with her efforts. In an interview with BBC, she said, “You feel empty because you work towards an Olympics for so long and then you don’t come away with what you want to achieve”. She felt a sense of failure at capturing this great opportunity at inspiring young girls all around. But what followed was worse.

Burton was immediately put on anti-depressants to cope better. But this proved detrimental for her. After she failed to get selected for the European tournament, her health really started to decline. She said, “I went from being a timid, unresponsive person, to really quite manic behavior. I was really aggressive toward my parents, siblings, and even the dog”.

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Burton had seizures, which continued for a while after that. The doctors, fearing she had psychosis, put her at Fieldhead hospital in Wakefield. But her condition kept worsening.

Yet to make peace, Burton prepares for a slow comeback

It was a chief medical officer Richard Robinson, who suggested that Burton might have autoimmune encephalitis. She was then admitted to a different hospital where her family let her go into a coma, necessary for her plasma exchange. For the longest time, she couldn’t talk, or walk, and also missed out on her team’s Commonwealth Games campaign in Birmingham last year. Venting out her anger, she said, “They knew they couldn’t treat me. I was too agitated, it had gone too far”. She spent three weeks in the coma and lost 42 lbs when she woke up.

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Burton is yet to make peace with the fact that she had to suffer through this at such a young age. As she said, “I grieve for the part that was taken from me” as she also couldn’t play rugby, her true “identity”. But never a quitter, Burton’s love for rugby was evident when she played for Team GB doctor’s intensive program. She is in a better place now and will look to compete in the future.

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