Devastated Woolley sees his hopes of a medal extinguished

TALLAGHT man Jack Woolley’s hopes of salvaging a shot at a bronze medal in the Men’s -58kg Olympic Taekwondo event in Tokyo have been extinguished after the opponent he lost to in the Round of 16, Lucas Guzmán was beaten 29-10 by Italy’s Vito Dell’Aquila in the semi finals.

Woolley needed Guzmán to progress to the decider in order for him to be brought into the frame for a possible bronze medal, but such a scenario failed to materialise as Dell’Aquila really took off in the third round to comfortably ensure his berth in the final.

It has been a heart-breaking morning for Woolley who played his part in a nailbiting Last 16 match that oscillated back and forth between the two competitors.

The South Dublin Taekwondo star, who became Ireland’s very first athlete in the sport to grace the Olympic stage, was agonisingly close to progressing to the last eight after landing a splendid head kick that put him a point up on Guzmán with just 12 seconds left on the clock.

But his opponent maintained his poise to serve up two kicks to the trunk in the closing four seconds to snatch a dramatic victory.

Speaking to RTE after that defeat, Woolley said “I’m devastated. It’s tough to take and it will be.

“Some people have come here to participate in an Olympics. I came here to win it and I could have, but just not performing like that.

“I’m devastated with my performance. Everything was perfect, mentally great, physically great, I stepped on the mat and it just wasn’t my day.

“We had this game plan, but I went out and my legs just went to jelly. I’m usually a lot more aggressive, but something just didn’t click and I’m upset with how it went” he said.

Woolley’s hopes of getting the opportunity to fight for bronze did remain alive, if only temporarily, after Guzmán beat Iran’s Armin Hadipour to advance to the semi final.

But the South American’s emphatic defeat at the hands of Dell’Aquila effectively ended the Tallaght man’s hopes of reaching the podium.