Hong Kong Sevens: Great Britain’s Burton comes full-circle after 25-day coma, Olympic Games next on agenda
- Great Britain, bronze medallists in 2023, failed to reach the quarter-finals in Hong Kong
- Victory over Brazil maintained position above Brazil, who occupy final relegation spot in world series standings
When Great Britain missed a Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens quarter-final spot by the barest of margins on Saturday, Abi Burton could apply a large dollop of perspective to the disappointment.
Burton is playing in the tournament less than two years after waking from a medically induced 25-day coma.
Her motivation for going to this year’s Paris Olympics stems not from a desire to salve the pain of losing a bronze medal match in the Tokyo Games, but from the opportunity to “prevent someone else from being misdiagnosed, like me”.
In 2022, Burton was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after her “manic aggressive behaviour” was wrongly diagnosed as stress-induced psychosis.
Further tests revealed Burton was suffering with Autoimmune NMDA Receptor Encephalitis, a condition where the body’s immune system attacks the brain. She has no recollection of the period from May to August 2022, and was comatose when her England teammates competed in the Commonwealth Games.
After waking up, Burton immediately stated her intention to be ready for the Rugby World Cup in November 2022. If that was a pipe dream, Paris is a near-certainty, injury permitting.
“All I thought about as soon as I woke up was, ‘When am I going to be able to play rugby again?’” Burton told the Post.
“But in reality it was going to take a long time, I said I would do it in six months, but it took me more than one year. I had to appreciate the journey was not linear, and move forward in a positive way.
“What a platform [ Olympics] that I would have to share [knowledge of] this severe, unknown illness with people. If I don’t do it, then maybe nobody will, and someone else will be misdiagnosed.”
As part of the initial phase of her return 12 months ago, Burton played for eventual winners RKS Legal Samurai Warriors in the Tradition HKFC 10s. She presented her Great Britain teammates with their jerseys before the subsequent sevens, and was in Hong Kong Stadium cheering them to a bronze medal.
“It means everything to be playing this year, it is really special,” said Burton. “Last year I was unsure if I would play international rugby again, so to be on the team sheet is a full circle moment for me.”
Burton’s story is told in a new HSBC documentary. Abby Gustaitis, the former USA captain, features in the film, and she told the Post it made a salient point about sport’s position in the context of real life.
“As an elite athlete your sport can be so all-consuming that it becomes your identity,” Gustaitis said. “You get caught up in every little thing, thinking ‘I made this error, I knocked that ball on’.
“[The story of Burton’s recovery and comeback] highlighted the positivity and camaraderie of sport, and it is part of the reason we love rugby so much.”
Burton was smarting nonetheless when Ireland progressed to the last eight on points difference, after Great Britain conceded a late try in their 17-12 victory over Brazil. The win remained important in isolation, keeping Burton’s team one spot ahead of the ninth-placed South Americans in the world series standings.
“One of our main focuses for this weekend was to stay above Brazil, so it was super important to beat them and keep on track,” Burton said.
Burton’s international teammate, Celia Quansah, who is not in the squad for Hong Kong, told the Post this week that “there are a lot of constraints around GB … we train together once a month, if that”.
“We just make the most of the time we have together, and don’t take it for granted,” Burton said. “We think we can put one foot in front of the other … and that is what we deal with.”
