An Australian field hockey player has opted to amputate part of his finger to compete at the Paris Olympics.
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.
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.
He will take to the field with the Kookaburras as they face Argentina on Saturday, just 16 days after he was injured.
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.
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.
Despite being warned by his wife not to do anything “rash”, Dawson says he made his “informed” decision that same afternoon.
“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.
“If taking the top of my finger was the price I had to pay, that’s what I would do.”
Team captain Aran Zalewski said the decision sent ripples of shock around the squad, but ultimately, they supported Dawson.
“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,” he said at a news conference in Paris.
“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.”
Earlier this week Kookaburras coach Colin Batch said Dawson was back training with the team.
“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,” he told Australia’s Seven News Network.
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.
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.