Matthew Dawson

Fast Facts

Sport: Hockey
Event: Mens
Olympic History: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 (Silver)
Year Born: 1994
State Born: NSW

About Matthew

It was a bat-and-ball sport Matthew pursued at a young age but it wasn’t the sport of his Australian representative mother, cricketer Trish Dawson.

Instead, Matthew followed his sister into hockey when he was eight years-old. At just 13 years old, the Hockey player moved from the Central Coast to Newcastle to pursue the sport and continue his development. 

Less than two years after making his Australian debut in 2014, Matthew was named on his first Olympic team and on his way to Rio 2016. 

In Rio, the green and gold favourites were knocked out of the Olympic competition early and finished up with a sixth place finish.

The young-gun helped the Kookaburras win back-to-back gold medals at the 2015 and 2017 World League Finals, where he scored the game winning goal in 2015 and in 2017 earned himself a runners-up finish at the Australian Player of the Year Awards. 

It was a rough 2018 for Matthew as a serious eye injury in training threatened not only his sight but his chances of a Commonwealth Games medal. Fortunately, he recovered in time for the event and wore protective eyewear throughout the competition. 

Matthew was one of two scorers in the 2-0 win over New Zealand in the final, and the Kookaburras took home the Commonwealth Games gold medal. This was a record-sixth gold medal for the men’s team at the Commonwealth Games.  

Matthew became a two-time Olympian at Tokyo 2020, where he would receive his debut Olympic medal. The Kookaburras would go undefeated throughout the tournament's group stage and go on to defeat Netherlands and Germany, qualifying for the Gold Medal final against Belgium. Australia's first men's hockey final since 2004, the Kookaburras would fall just short, losing to Belgium in a dramatic penalty shootout after the game ended 1-1 in regular time.