Scottish 200 metres record holder Beth Dobbin has admitted it feels cruel after she was forced to retire due to a heart issue at the age of 31.
The Fifer competed at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and won a 4x400m relay bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
However, a condition which took two years to fully diagnose meant she has not competed since that season’s Diamond League final in Zurich and it wrecked her chances of a second Olympic appearance in Paris.
And despite intensive treatment, Dobbin confessed frustration at finally accepting her athletics career has been cut short.
Beth Dobbin won 4x400m relay bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham
‘Unlike injuries, where you are surrounded by physio experience to get you back on track, this often isn’t the case with illness,’ she revealed. ‘Instead it’s been a journey of getting answers and trialling treatment.
‘On one hand, my career feels like it’s been cut short and it feels cruel not to be retiring on my own terms. On the other, I achieved much more than I ever expected.’
Dobbin, whose father Jim played for Celtic, landed a British title and also raced at three European and two world championships, reaching the 200m semi-finals in Tokyo after previously setting a personal best of 22.50 seconds that took down Sandra Whittaker’s Scottish best which had stood for 35 years.
‘I may not be leaving the sport with an Olympic medal but I’m leaving with many dreams fulfilled,’ she added.
