JACK WOOLLEY knows he is preparing for a different Olympics in Paris.
But he says he has changed as well in the three years since Tokyo.
The Taekwondo star had hopes of a gold medal and could not hide his despair when he fell at the first hurdle.
It did not stop him getting a tattoo of the Olympic rings, but that was not the only significant occurrence soon after his return home as he was badly beaten up and met his partner Dave.
But he said: “I feel like I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for things like that.”
Woolley says he is stronger and more mature now, willing to accept criticism as a tool to improve and devoting more time to working on his weaknesses rather than relying on his strengths.
He has bulked up, too, normally weighing 63kg before shedding to the 58kg limit, with accompanying mood swings.
The 25-year-old said: “It used to be a lot worse. My ma used to want to kill me but now they just know, ‘Ah, Jack’s cutting, leave him alone’.
“But it’s the worst part of the sport, easily.”
He believes the competition is wide open.
It is dominated by Europeans but he said: “You still have the Koreans. Taekwondo to them is like hurling to us, this person gets injured, they have one just as good.”
Still, he is hopeful of a better outcome than last time.
He quipped: “Hopefully no one sees me crying on the telly anymore. I’m sick of that.
“The first person from Ireland to go to an Olympics in this sport, I felt like there was a lot of pressure on my shoulders to perform.
“I don’t feel like I’m going into these Games feeling like I have to perform in order to show people what I’m made of.”
That is because he has since won silver at both the European Championships and European Games.
His Tokyo experience was not helped by Covid-19 restrictions.
He recalled: “We were told, ‘Don’t mix countries and don’t mix sports’. I was the only person from Taekwondo. So how am I supposed to do that? It was three weeks of basically staring at my coach.”
In Paris, the presence of his nearest and dearest in the stands will mean a lot to him.
RETURNING SUPPORT
He added: “My parents have seen me fight three times since I was 12. We had this conversation with my coach in 2012, ‘Does Jack have what it takes to be an Olympian?’
“‘Yeah, but you need to sign the right for him to travel over to me because for every competition you accompany him, that’s money you could be spending for him to enter another competition’.”
Then there is his grandfather. Woolley said: “He has never seen me fight in person.
“We actually got him a Smart telly so he could watch Tokyo but then he is texting me asking how he does this and that.
“He knows more about the sport now because he gets suggested videos, so he is watching videos of me, saying, ‘Oh, this is from 2017’ — and I can’t even remember that.”
Woolley’s presence at the Games will make up for losing a gold chain on the day he qualified.
He explained: “It meant a lot because it was from the same shop he got my nan’s wedding ring in. She passed away when I was competing in Poland.
TOUGH LOSS
“I rang home in 2018 to say I got gold and they told me, ‘We are just after pulling the plug on your nana five minutes ago’.
“I flew home, gave them the medal to carry up for the funeral because I was flying to Taipei the next day.
“I was actually not going to go because I wanted to go to the funeral and my ma said that could mean whether I qualify for Tokyo or not. Realistically, it did.
“My mam said if my nana was still here she would tell you to shut up and get on the plane. She wouldn’t want you to not go to an Olympics just because you had to go to the funeral.
“There’s only three grandkids. For me not to be there . . . anyone that knew us, they would know how close we were and we were basically the same person — cheeky, intelligent and sarcastic.
“I wore the chain for the first time in Tokyo and the last competition I ever wore it was at the qualifiers in March.
“I take the chain off, put it in the gumshield box, fight and then put it back on. My coach keeps it in his pocket.
“So I qualify, we have the flag, we’re jumping around the ring and there’s no chain in the box. It had fallen out and gone missing and I’ve not got it back.”
STRONG RELATIONSHIP
And then there is Dave, who is a personal trainer.
Woolley said: “My mam has this story about when she first met my dad.
“She came home and my nana rolled her eyes and said, ‘Oh no, here we go!’
“My mam said she had the same moment with me when I came home after meeting him for the first time.
“I never thought I’d have this type of relationship, with the sport, being constantly away.”
Jack Woolley, Team Ireland Taekwondo Olympian, was speaking as an Allianz ambassador.