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.
