New approach for Woolley in his pursuit of Olympic glory in Paris

TOKYO Olympian Jack Woolley insists he is heading into the Paris 2024 cycle with a new outlook on life and his sport.

The Tallaght man was left devastated in July when his hopes of a medal at the Summer Games in Japan completely unravelled after he suffered a dramatic 22-19 point defeat at the hands of Argentina’s Lucas Guzmán in the last 16 of the Men’s -58kg event.

Woolley, who has been Ireland’s leading light in the sport over recent years, now believes he will need to alter the approach to his campaign for Olympic qualification over the next three years.

“The plan is to go into these next three years and have fun” the South Dublin Taekwondo star told The Echo.

“Looking back on it now, it felt like a job and I never really enjoyed it. Of course you enjoy the part of winning.

“It still will be my job and I’ll give it 100 percent, but I want to enjoy it and I want to feel comfortable and if I’m not, I’ll need to take a little step back from it just to give myself a little bit of a breather.

“It was just so intense, competing every single weekend. It was really tough and so now I’m going to just look at what will be the best way to qualify.

“I’m actually really surprised. The rankings just came out there recently and I’m actually still in the top six.

“I’m still in qualification position even after a poor result at the Olympics.

“I think getting in [for the next Olympics] will still be a challenge. It’s not going to be easy, but I think it’s more doable.

“Thinking back, I basically started at nothing around the time of Rio [Olympics]. My ranking was nothing then compared to what it is now.

“So if I’m able to maintain that and keep it there rather than chase the top-six, just keep it there, I should be in Paris.

“I’m top six in Olympic rankings and in -58kg I’m a World Number Three so I can’t really complain.

“I’ve actually moved up places after the Olympics even though I didn’t perform, so I just think, imagine what would have happened if I’d had a load of ranking points from the Olympics. But you live and learn as they say.”

Woolley, who has been recovering from an assault in a random violent attack in Dublin City Centre last month that left him requiring facial reconstructive surgery, has remained upbeat and poised to embrace the pursuit of qualification for Paris especially now that the wait is not as long as a normal Olympic cycle.

“It’s probably better now that it’s only a three-year wait” he continued.

“I’ll be 25 and that’s probably going to be my peak, so I’ll hopefully be going into these Games being the best I can.

“I went into those Games physically 100 percent and what I thought was 100 percent mentally, but I think I was too focused. I was like a robot in a sense.

“I just need to relax a bit, be an athlete and a person for once and go in there feeling comfortable.

“I went into Tokyo thinking ‘I spent my whole life doing this and this is all or nothing’ whereas if I have a bit of comfort at home and be able to come back to something, there won’t be as much pressure on myself.

“I can be that bit more positive and I think that will actually add to my performance.

“Look a Simone Biles at the Olympics and the whole issue of mental health.

“My mental health is fine, but I just think I could work on it a little bit more, be a bit more comfortable with my sport rather than looking at it as your life, your job.

“The sport is tough. It’s all done on one day. You lose and you’re out, unless you’re up against someone who makes the final and you can come back and go for a bronze. But you don’t want to leave that in somebody else’s hands.

“With other sports you can lose and still manage to redeem yourself, but with taekwondo it’s all done on one day, you’re in and you’re out.

“And I’m usually good with the pressure. Usually when I do travel I come away with a medal typically, so it kind of knocks me a bit when I don’t.

“I never miss two in a row. If I don’t medal at one I’m like ‘Ok it was a bad day at the office’, and two weeks later I’m back in the ring and I win it” he said.

Certainly the last 16 defeat to Guzmán in Tokyo was probably the toughest moment in Woolley’s sporting career, but, having taken the time to look back on the fight, he has found some solace in the realisation that a number of things were outside of his control.

“I was very upset and disappointed in myself more than anything after that fight”

“There were just a lot of things going through my head, but I watched the fight back a couple of times and I feel a lot better about it now.

“There were a few decisions that didn’t go my way, that I wasn’t happy with.

“I was pretty annoyed with the refereeing and scoring system because the kicks I was throwing and the ones that went viral afterwards, my scorpion kick, they didn’t even score.

“It’s frustrating. They go viral and everyone’s loving them, but yet they still didn’t go on the board.

“Even just one of those out of the three that hit him, just one of them going up, I would have won. It really would have changed everything.

“But it just depends on the ref. If he doesn’t like them, he can take it off and, while you can protest it, it’s very rare that they go against the referee’s decision on the camera unless it’s blatantly obvious. They never really overturn them.

“It can be quite frustrating, especially for me who does a lot of the strange kicks, but might not have too much impact behind them.

“But I’m playing the game and I’m doing it the way I want to do it and that’s the way that my fight style is.

“It’s just unfortunate that they’re trying to take that away, so I’m going to have to try and come up with something even more unique to go into the next few years” he said.