Olympic dream lives on for hockey player who amputated finger to reach Paris | Kieran Pender

It has been 20 years since the Kookaburras, the Australian men’s hockey team, have won an Olympic gold medal. But so badly do the current cohort want to improve on their agonising silver medal in Tokyo, downed by Belgium in an extraordinary, protracted shoot-out, that some squad members have taken to drastic measures. Like cutting off a finger.

Two weeks ago, Kookaburras defender Matthew Dawson was participating in a warm-up match in Perth…