Woolley dominates in US Open as Phelan medals
SOUTH Dublin Taekwondo’s Jack Woolley made a real statement of intent when he stormed to gold at the US Open in Orlando, Florida last weekend.
The 21-year-old Tallaght native, who has already qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, returned to the location of his first senior event back in 2015 where he then stunned the world of Taekwondo by winning a bronze while still a junior.
South Dublin Taekwondo competitors David Phelan, Emma Cahill and Jack Woolley all competed in the 2020 US Open in Orlando
In total, since 2015, Woolley has attended the US Open five times, recording six podium finishes as he was allowed to enter both junior and senior divisions in 2015.
At this year’s event, in which his clubmate David Phelan captured a brilliant bronze, Woolley emerged top from his -58kg division, surmounting the challenge of the Olympic-ranked Number Two, Jesus Tortosa Cabrera, in the final.
In a gripping battle of the two taekwondo superstars, Woolley took the lead before the tall Spaniard hit back and overtook.
With both fighters exchanging blows, Woolley served up a series of jumping looping head kicks over the guard of his opponent, who placed fifth in the Rio Olympics, and after the regulation three rounds, both competitors were tied at 15 points apiece.
The gold medal was to be decided by a ‘Golden Round’ (First to score two points) and with just seven seconds remaining, the Dubliner made the breakthrough winning with a pushing kick to the chest to the roar of the crowd in the massive stadium in Walt Disney Worlds ESPN Arena.
It completed a tremendous campaign that saw Woolley also despatch Russian, American, French and Swedish opposition along the way, and resulted in him scooping the ‘Male Player of the Tournament’ Award.
The event, known as the largest Open taekwondo tournament in the world, attracted no less than 2200 individual registrations from more than 40 countries- all black belts in advanced divisions.
Joining Woolley and also making a massive impact at this event was his team mate Phelan who won bronze in his -63kg junior division.
After five tough fights, he signed off on his final junior year in style, producing the ‘kick of the tournament’ online when he landed an extravegent spinning head blow to his opponent resulting in a standing 10 count by the referee.
South Dublin’s Emma Cahill fought in the female -44kg division, and finished up in ninth place.
Coming into this event, she had carded three ranking podium finishes in as many weeks with competitions in Germany and Sweden.
The trio will rejoin their team mates for further training this week before heading out to the Sofia Open in Bulgaria this coming weekend.
