It’s going to be bronze at best for Jack Woolley who fell to a narrow defeat during the night.
There was heartbreak for Ireland’s first Olympic Taekwondo athlete, Jack Woolley, who was in action in his first fight this morning, losing out in the final seconds, 22-19 to Argentina’s Lucas Guzman. An evenly-matched contest, the two fighters were on level pegging throughout, with Guzman taking the spoils at the end of the first, 9-6, while Woolley put in a superb second round display to see him take a slender 12-13 lead into the final round. They matched each other blow for blow in the last, with Woolley taking an 18-19 lead with just over 10 seconds remaining. However, two quick scores from Guzman in the closing few seconds, saw him take a 22-19 win. Jack now awaits the remainder of Guzman’s results before finding out if he has a chance to fight in the repechage later today.
Speaking afterwards he said: “I’m very disappointed, everything was good in the lead up, in our prep, I felt physically great going in. I walked in today and something just didn’t click, it just wasn’t my day. I have to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best this evening. Sport is unpredictable. I hope everyone else he fights has a similar performance to me, but we have to see – he has to get to the final first.”
