Meet Olympian Matt Dawson – who got a finger amputation to be at the Paris 2024 Games: the Aussie field hockey player hopes to win gold for the Kookaburras – and his mum played national cricket
- After suffering from an injury to his right ring finger during a practice match 2 weeks ago, Dawson chose amputating the top part over a long, uncertain recovery in order to compete at Paris 2024
- The two-time Olympian is married and has a son – and he’s hoping to end his field hockey career with a gold medal for his national team, the Kookaburras, saying, ‘Who knows, this could be my last’
Australian field hockey player and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Matt Dawson faced a tough decision ahead of the Paris Olympics.
The 30-year-old suffered a nasty injury to the ring finger of his right hand during a practice match mere weeks before the games. His doctors gave him two options: either undergo a lengthy reconstructive surgery with an uncertain outcome and miss the Olympics, or amputate the affected part of his finger to ensure he could compete in the Games. The two-time Olympian opted for the latter.
“If taking the top of my finger was the price I had to pay, that’s what I would do,” Dawson said on Parlez Vous Hockey, the Kookaburras’ pre-Paris Games podcast.
Here’s everything we know about Matt Dawson:
Matt Dawson’s mum is a former athlete
Matthew “Matt” Dawson was born in New South Wales, Australia, on April 27, 1994 to Patricia “Trish” Carmel Dawson, an Australian cricket player.
But instead of pursuing cricket like his mum, Dawson, the youngest of three children, followed his eldest sister Jessica into field hockey – and never looked back.
His road to the Olympics
The hockey player moved to Newcastle at 13 to further his development in the sport. He made his Australian debut when he represented the Australia men’s national field hockey team in 2014 against India.