Woolley secures place on Team Ireland for Olympic Games

JACK Woolley once again joins an elite group of only 16 people who will qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

The South Dublin Taekwondo star secured his place on Team Ireland for the games at the European Qualification Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.

After finishing as the sixth nation in the 2023 end of year Olympic rankings, Jack was one place outside the top five auto-qualify quotas for Paris and was required to attend the European Qualification event last weekend.

Seeded Number One in the 58kg division, the Tallaght lad had a bye in the round of 16 requiring him to achieve two consecutive victories to achieve one of the two tickets to Paris available.

In the quarter-final, Woolley overcame Finland 2-0 which led to a nail-biting decider with Albania.

The young Albanian Ernest Merdanaj took the lead one round to nil, requiring Woolley to win the two remaining rounds in the best of three format.

Woolley picked up his momentum and secured the win 2-1 and a quota to Paris for Team Ireland.

After the heartbreak at the Tokyo Games, where he became the country’s first participant in any Olympic taekwondo event, 25-year-old Jack can now look forward to competing in his second consecutive games.

‘Everyone at Taekwondo Ireland is very proud of Jack for his qualification to Paris 2024 in such a competitive -58kg division, said Robert Taaffe, Head Coach South Dublin Taekwondo / Performance Director Taekwondo Ireland.

“He once again joins that elite group of only 16 people who will qualify for the Olympics.

“We are extremely thankful to his teammates / sparring partners, our taekwondo friends and colleagues worldwide who have assisted with training camps and finally extremely grateful to National Sports bodies for any support.

“We now have a brief rest before increasing the training load before the Macedonia Open World Ranking Event at the end of next week and further preparation for the European Championships in May.’

Elsewhere, the team of two athletes also had Leroy Nsilu Dilandu take part in his -68kg division.

An early victory against San Marino in the round of 32 by two ‘point gaps’ set Dilandu off in a great stride.

Unfortunately his day came to an end in the round of 16 with defeat to Israel.

The South Dublin Taekwondo duo now rejoin their club mates in preparations for the European Championships in May.