Jack Woolley on his Olympic experience: 'Nothing will ever compare to this'
The Tallaght man must wait and see now if he will have a chance to compete for a medal
Jack Woolley has to play a waiting game now to see if he'll get another chance at the greatest venue he's ever competed in.
A quarter-final defeat at the Grand Palais in Paris for Ireland's two-time - and only taekwondo - Olympian is the same result as in Tokyo.
But while that last-second defeat three years ago resulted in an outpouring of raw emotion from the Tallaght man, he was more reflective this afternoon as the waiting game started.
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There was nothing last second about this defeat to Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov as Woolley lost both rounds. But, if Magomedov gets to the gold medal fight, the Irishman will get the chance to go the tricky repechage route to bronze.
“I don’t think anybody comes to the Olympics to not get a medal," said Woolley. "I’m obviously very devastated but if you’d told me six months ago that I’d be here in the first place, I’d laugh at you.
"To go out against an opponent who I know is really tough because we’ve fought each other – that’s the third time now, and it was 1-1 going into that - unfortunately today it didn’t go according to plan.
"The fact is that he's a good opponent is good for me because if he makes it to the final I can get back in and go for a bronze medal but that’s out of my hands now. I don’t want to dwell on that too much. I’ll be ready to go back into the ring when I have to."
A couple of big decisions went against the 25-year-old and he was unhappy that a video replay that went his opponent's way was not at all clear-cut, given how long the judges took to rule on it.
But he acknowledged that's the way the sport goes and that he has been on the right side of 50-50 calls himself. Woolley added: "I went into this to enjoy it, because, like I said six months ago, I wasn't in the best head space. I wasn't in the best physical condition. I'd had to make weight over 20 times last year - 58 kilos for me is pretty tough, it's about six kilo cuts.
"So it's very draining on the body. So at the end of last year, I kind of had enough of it, and I used that time with an amazing team in Sport Ireland to get my head back in the game, to be the best I've ever been, the best shape I've ever been.
"This sport is just unpredictable. You can be in the best shape and just something doesn't go your way, like a video replay, or your last-minute nerves or something like that. Like, I'm not saying that that happened to me, but you never know what happens on the day in this sport. And that's kind of why I love it.
"Look at it (the venue), it's absolutely beautiful. It is the best stadium that has ever been in this sport, and I think it will be the best stadium that's ever been in our sport for decades to come. Nothing will ever compare to this.
"And I've got nothing else to do so if I do get back, I'm just going to really take it in. I was so focused on that game that it was hard to just soak in the atmosphere, but I'm buzzing to get back in which is mad, like.
"Three years ago if I was having this interview I was in tears and I'm trying to hold them back but I'm a different person to what I was three years ago and that's something to be really, really proud of."
With that, Woolley was off to see his nearest and dearest who have supported him through some tough times.
"It's best for me to just zone out a little bit and not focus on the competition. What will be, will be and I'll have the chance to get back in later, hopefully," he said.
"I want to go and say hello to my supporters, the people who have been there over these six months. These are the people who have been here for me and I'll just go out and say hello to everybody and thank them for coming because this is the first time that a lot of people have seen me fight in person.
"Yeah, just super proud."
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