(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
NATIONAL LEAGUE New York Mets 2, Washington Nationals 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 9, Atlanta Braves 0 Milwaukee Brewers 6, Philadelphia Phillies 2 Colorado Rockies 3, Arizona Diamondbacks, 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE Chicago White Sox 8, Los Angeles Angles 4 Cleveland Guardians 4, Minnesota Twins 3 Detroit Tigers 7, Kansas City Royals 6
INTERLEAGUE Chicago Cubs 9, Oakland Athletics 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE FOOTBALL Atlanta Falcons 22, Philadelphia Eagles 21
(LONDON) — An Olympic athlete has had his finger amputated after he suffered an injury just so he can play in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Just two weeks ago, Matthew Dawson, a 30-year-old hockey player from Australia, suffered a badly broken finger on his right-hand during a team training session in Perth, Australia, and, after consulting with doctors, he found out the injury would take months to recover from and that he would miss out on the opportunity to play in his third Olympic Games.
But instead of opting for a long recovery, Dawson made a decision that would shock his teammates and has already made headlines around the world. He decided to amputate his finger so that he could compete in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“There was a bit of shock within the team,” said Dawson’s teammate, Aran Zalewski, in an interview in Paris in the run up to the opening ceremony on Friday evening. “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.”
“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,” Zalewski continued. “We’ve got his back. We’re fully supportive of his decision. We played a game [on Monday] and he seems absolutely fine. It’s great to see that his finger is going to be all right and he’ll be able to play with us throughout the tournament.”
Dawson, who underwent surgery on his right hip, a month after the Commonwealth Games in 2018, has had a long list of injuries during his career, including suffering a fractured eye socket in Feb. 2018 in a training accident, causing him to miss the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia the following month.
Dawson took up hockey when he was 8-years-old after his sister gave up netball and his parents signed her up for the local hockey team.
“As little brothers tend to do, I tagged along and watched my sister play hockey over the next couple of years,” Dawson explained in an interview in Nov. 2018.
Dawson is now set to be a three-time Olympian after competing in 2016 and 2020, where he won a silver medal with his squad after losing to Belgium on penalties. He is also a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist in 2018 and 2022 and has two Hockey World Cup appearances under his belt where he came in third with his team in 2018 and fourth in 2023.
(NEW YORK) — Marion Jones is opening up about her new life as she emerged into the spotlight for a career reboot.
She was once considered the fastest woman in the world and a household name during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
However, in 2008, Jones was sentenced to six months in prison, two years of supervised release and 800 hours of community service after pleading guilty to charges of lying to federal investigators in 2003 over using performance-enhancing drugs. She adamantly denied the allegations for years at first.
Along with the conviction, she was also stripped of the five medals — three gold and two bronze track and field medals — she earned at the Sydney Olympics.
Two decades later, the all-round athlete with a tumultuous journey is now gearing up for her second chance.
During an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, Jones, now a mother of three, reflected on whether she believes she would have been able to achieve the medals without using performance-enhancing drugs.
“The answer’s very easy for me: 1000%,” Jones told Roberts. “And that’s what makes it very hard. I was blessed with just an enormous amount of talent… But knowing that it didn’t need to happen the way that it did always will stick with me as a moment that is hard.”
Jones was released from prison in September 2008 and has since led a quiet life. She told Roberts she needed the time away to reflect on “why certain choices were made.”
“When I was in 49 days of solitary confinement, right, and I was sitting there saying, ‘Okay, Marion,'” Jones said. “Like, again, ‘You could allow all of this to just put you under. Or you can use what your mom has always said about you, that you’re something special, and that you’re unique.’…I was not gonna allow my poor choices to waste her dream.”
Putting those thoughts into fruition, she is now focusing on helping others emerge stronger while overcoming obstacles by embarking on a new coaching initiative.
“Well, I would hope that people would look at my journey, Robin, and ultimately come to the conclusion that failure isn’t forever,” she explained. “That although many people cannot relate to being an Olympic athlete, an Olympic champion, a convicted felon, everybody can relate when it comes to failure in their lives, right?”
“I coach, and teach and mentor entrepreneurs on how to pull themselves up when they’re dealing with stuff,” Jones said, adding, “And I’m loving it. I’m so passionate about it.”
With her renewed spirit, Jones, who is also a mother of three, shared that she has been proudly following and watching the 2024 Paris Olympics with her kids.
“I love sitting with my daughter and watching Simone Biles, and all the rock star female athletes that are there right now,” she said. “I think a lot of people are surprised when I say that when I watch the games — it’s happy moments that I relive.”
Jones added that she is no longer looking back at her past, saying she hopes her journey will serve as lessons to others, moving forward.
“And I would hope that when people see my story ultimately they say, ‘You know what? Yeah, she went through some stuff,'” Jones said. “Lot of it [is] because of her own choices. But she didn’t stay there, and she didn’t allow it all to ultimately consume her.”
“There were poor choices, Robin, that were made along the way,” she continued. “But I put in work and I sacrificed. And the moment for me can never be taken away.”