Aussie Field Hockey Player Would Give Part Of His Ring Finger To Go To The Olympics And Did Exactly That

What would you give up to take part in the Olympics? 

Sleep? 

Money? 

Part of your ring finger?

Well, one Australian field hockey player did that last one to make sure he could realize his dream of playing in the Olympic Games.

I don't know how much you know about men's field hockey — wait, yes I do; nothing — but Australia is one of the heavyweights and they'll be in the Olympic tournament that gets underway on July 27.

The Kookaburras will have defender Matthew Dawson in the lineup when the tournament starts, and that's only because he decided to part with the upper bit of his ring finger.

Matthew Dawson of the Kookaburras (Australian men's national field hockey team) is headed to the Olympics after parting with the top of his ring finger. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images for Hockey Australia)

You see, Dawson suffered a broken finger while training in the lead-up to the Games, and that injury gave him two options: recoup as per usual and miss the Olympics or have the doc give it, as I like to think they'd say Down Under, a chopperoo.

Dawson revealed this week that he went with the latter to ensure that he's Olympic-ready.

"I didn’t have much time to make the decision," Dawson told Australia's 7NEWS. I made the decision then I called my wife and she said ‘I don’t want you to make a rash decision’. But 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."

Man, that's commitment. I don't know how many athletes would do this to realize their goal of playing in the Olympics. I think a lot of us would talk a big game and then when it was time to decide we'd be like, "That's okay. You know what? I'll just try for the next Olympics."

Not Matthew Dawson though. What an absolute (Field) Hockey Guy,

The US isn't in the tournament, so I'll be cheering for the Kookaburras.