An Australian hockey player made the shock move to have part of his finger amputated so that he could compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Matthew Dawson, 30, broke the ring finger of his right hand in the lead-up to the international sporting event, which begins on Friday.
Speaking to Business Insider on Friday, Dawson recounted the injury, saying another player’s stick struck his hand during an inter-squad training match a couple of weeks ago.
“There was plenty of emotions running through my head, thinking, ‘That could be it, the Olympics are over,’” he said.
After his injury, one option would have been surgery to put a wire in his finger, which would have impacted his ability to compete in the Olympics.
Dawson said a plastic surgeon advised him that it could involve four to six months of recovery, and there was no guarantee he would regain full function of his finger.
Instead, the hockey player opted to have the top of the finger amputated, which only required about 10 days of recovery, enabling him to play in Australia’s first Olympic hockey match on Saturday.
Dawson told the Parlez Vous Hockey podcast that he didn’t have much time to make his choice, and that he consulted his wife, who urged him not to make a “rash decision.”
He told Australia’s 7News: “I guess I had all the information I needed to make a decision for not only playing in Paris, but for life after and giving myself the best health.”
Dawson previously competed at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. In 2020, his team won the silver medal in Tokyo.
He believes the partial amputation won’t significantly affect his play this time.
“I might have lost a little bit of strength in the right hand, but really, I haven’t noticed it too much at all,” he told BI. “I’m feeling quite comfortable out there and feeling like I can perform my best.”
Dawson’s coach, Colin Batch, told 7News: “Full marks to Matt. Obviously, he’s really committed to playing in Paris. I’m not sure I would have done it, but he’s done it, so great.”
Dawson told BI that it was so important to compete because it may be his last Olympics.
He also now has a son, which factored into his decision. He said he wants his son to know how much dedication is required to compete.
And hopefully, he added, “I get to show him the gold medal at the end of these two weeks.”
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