‘I have my confidence back’ – Irish Olympian Jack Woolley four years on from unprovoked Dublin assault

Taekwondo athlete Jack Woolley said Dancing With the Stars has helped him regain his confidence, nearly four years on from a vicious assault he suffered.

Just five days after the Summer 2020 Olympics came to a close, he was was set upon in Dublin by eight attackers and was hospitalised with serious injuries.

The Tallaght native was treated with stitches for injuries to his face. "I have always wanted to get my lip fixed," Wooley said ahead of tonight’s semi-final.

He stressed that the scar that resulted from the "sucker punch" attack when he was 22-years-old, made him feel very self-conscious about his appearance.

He was initially supposed to get plastic surgery to correct it. "But seeing myself smiling on TV and with my confidence back. I think the lip makes me, me. And I wanted to keep it," Woolley said.

"It was a completely unprovoked attack. There were seven random people who were attacked. People were hit with bottles. There could have been a knife," he said.

Woolley a lifelong martial artist, added "no matter how well trained you are" you are never going to beat a knife", saying he was lucky he wasn’t attacked with one.

The Dubliner recalled how he and his partner Dave, who sits front row each week, were only together two weeks when Woolley was viciously assaulted.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - March 9th

As a result, his partner is set to join An Garda Síochána through its training college in Templemore, later this year.

"It inspired him to go into the guards and try and get justice for other people who may be in the same situation. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a follow up from the guards.I had only met them once. The people weren’t caught."

"It was a little bit of a let down," he said.

The Olympian recalled how his face was posted on the front of all media platforms and front pages all over the world, but he failed to get justice.

"For there to be no follow up, I think he was so disappointed with the way that it was handled, that he wants to step in and take that job on himself.

"I met them once, I had to give a statement, they came to home. That was all," Woolley said.

When asked about the vicious assault of RTÉ presenter Brendan Courtney a fortnight ago, Woolley said he didn’t want those memories affecting his own performance.

However, he did reach out to Courtney after a couple of days, to let him know that he is there for him.

"I want to be a support system for anyone going through that. But I don’t want to dwell on it too much. I don’t want that trauma affecting this competition for me," he said.

When asked if he still goes out in the capital, he recalled how two weeks after his own assault, he went on a night out, thinking it wouldn’t affect him.

"That didn’t go very well, it backfired, I was actually more stressed than I thought I would be. But nowadays I’m fine," he said.

On his role as an inspiration to young fans, he said he loves taking photos and signing autographs, when being recognised out on the street.

It stemmed from when he was a child, when he asked his favourite Taekwondo athlete who was "the big name in Ireland", for an autograph, but they refused.

"My parents were pretty upset about it. They said ‘Jack, when you become a name for yourself, always be very respectful, get pictures with everybody, sign things, interviews, say yes to everything’," he said.

"It is all about your character. That is just the type of person I am."

Woolley and his pro partner Alex Vladimirov will dance a Salsa to Red Alert by Basement Jaxx in the first Dancing With the Stars semi-final today.

"Obviously, I would love to win, but every week we go out to give ourselves our best performance. I am comparing myself to myself.

"But, it is a competition. In the Olympics, it is a sport and it is down to what I do, personally. Whereas, this is public votes."

He said claiming the glitterball trophy on March 16 in the final, is "not really in his hands" and that all he can do, is give his best performance each week,

"There is so much love and support for us online and people coming up to us and telling us we are their favourites. It is really nice to hear."

He said that if he and Vladimirov are unable to take home the glitterball trophy, at least he has "come out of this a much better person".

"I have my confidence back. I feel like I lost myself over the last few years," he said.

"To come out of this Jack Woolley again. Alex said to me the Jack Woolley that she first met for this show, compared to now, is a completely different person."