Aphiwe Dyantyi has revealed he suffered an anxiety attack on one of the first occasions he braved going out in public after testing positive for a banned substance.
At the end of August last year, the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport confirmed that Dyantyi’s B sample had returned a positive test for banned substances after the initial bombshell findings following a national training camp in July.
At the time, the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of 2018 released a statement in which he denied taking any banned substances and requested that his B sample be tested.
Dyantyi has been in limbo since, as he awaits a hearing date.
In a candid interview with Sport24, the former Springbok wing revealed he suffered an anxiety attack when he left the house and ended up in hospital.
‘Some guy helped me a lot to get there and he took me to the hospital, but I don’t remember much about what happened,’ he said.
‘Fortunately, the doctor knew the situation and who I was and he kept everything on the low, which was good. My mom still doesn’t know about that. I just didn’t want to add pressure on to my parents or have them worry about me. Everyone was worried enough.’
Dyantyi also went on to explain why he stayed silent in the months following his drug test.
‘I didn’t have social media in those quiet months – I just deleted everything. You go on your phone and it’s “Aphiwe this, Springbok that, World Cup this”, and at some point, I just couldn’t deal with it. It just got too much,’ he explained.
‘It was a way for me to try protect myself. That could have driven me to do anything … the worst. I withdrew because I felt that if there’s any chance of me surviving, I just needed to be by myself.
‘My family didn’t see me and I was probably holed up in the house for two months.’
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
