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An Australian field hockey player has opted to amputate part of his finger to compete at the Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n
Matt Dawson badly broke a digit on his right hand during team training in Perth two weeks ago, and recovery from surgery to repair it would have taken months.<\/p>\n
So, the 30-year-old decided to have the finger removed from the knuckle up in order to take part in his third Games, shocking his team-mates and coach.<\/p>\n
He will take to the field with the Kookaburras as they face Argentina on Saturday, just 16 days after he was injured.<\/p>\n
Dawson has told media the break was so bad that he passed out when he saw his finger in the changing room. He thought his Olympic dream was over.<\/p>\n
He urgently consulted a plastic surgeon who said that even with surgery to repair the finger – and the long recovery time – it may not regain full function. But if it was amputated, he could be back playing in 10 days.<\/p>\n
Despite being warned by his wife not to do anything “rash”, Dawson says he made his “informed” decision that same afternoon.<\/p>\n
“I’m definitely closer to the end of my career than the start and, who knows, this could be my last [Olympics], and if I felt that I could still perform at my best then that’s what I was going to do,” he told the Parlez Vous Hockey podcast.<\/p>\n
“If taking the top of my finger was the price I had to pay, that’s what I would do.”<\/p>\n
Team captain Aran Zalewski said the decision sent ripples of shock around the squad, but ultimately, they supported Dawson.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t really know what to think, and then we heard that he went to the hospital and chopped his finger off, which was pretty interesting because I know people would give an arm and a leg and even a little bit of finger to be here sometimes,\u201d he said at a news conference in Paris.<\/p>\n
“When you’ve spent a lifetime of choice and sacrifice to come and compete at the highest level, I think for him it was an easy decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this week Kookaburras coach Colin Batch said Dawson was back training with the team.<\/p>\n
“Full marks to Matt. Obviously he\u2019s really committed to playing in Paris. I’m not sure I would have done it, but he’s done it, so great,” he told Australia\u2019s Seven News Network.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time Dawson has faced an extreme injury, nearly losing an eye after being hit by a hockey stick in the lead up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
He managed to still play for the Kookaburras as they won gold in that tournament, and again when they won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n