JACK WOOLLEY COULD feel the dreaded question lurking over him within a week of his Olympics campaign winding down.

“What now?”

After competing at an event of such enormity and such global interest, how does one just turn the page and return to normality?

This is Woolley’s second spin on the Olympics circuit after competing at Tokyo three years ago. That was a historic occasion as he became Ireland’s first taekwondo entrant at the Games.

But he describes that experience as a “blur”. All he remembers is the devastation he felt at losing his opening fight in the 58kg category of the men’s competition.

This time, he was one fight away from competing for a bronze medal when he lost his repechage bout to Adrián Vicente of Spain. LA 2028 is the one where he hopes to make his mark on the podium if he can keep his arc trending in that direction. But there’s a lot of time to fill in the interim.

For many athletes, the end of the Olympics marks the end of their season and the beginning of some downtime. Taekwondo athletes, however, are on the clock all year round. Breaks from the grind are rare, and when they do come, they can be unsettling rather than relaxing. That’s especially true for Woolley who craves activity. Aside from some cardio work, he hasn’t trained for the last two weeks. 

“Today is the first time I’ve lifted my legs above my waist,” he says. He’ll get back on the mat in the next few weeks to resume training with a view to preparing for a Grand Prix final in China in December.

“You build your whole life for this event and then it’s like, ‘What now?’ You’re literally learning to do everything that people would call a normal life. Other people have more of a break because they have seasons in their sport. A lot of people go on holidays, but a holiday for me is to be at home.

“You’re so used to fueling for performance that you’re learning how to eat again. I’m in a weight-making sport so I’m always thinking that I need to get my weight down. It’s trying to have a takeaway without feeling guilty. You wouldn’t expect little things like that but you have to take the positives.”

Woolley took action during that period when he was feeling low. He reached out to other Team Ireland athletes, as well as his taekwondo opponents, to check in on their mental state and communicate with those who were also coming out of the Olympics bubble.

There was some comfort in knowing that others, whether they had a medal or not, could relate to his struggles. 

“You can’t replicate this feeling for anyone else so it’s just someone who understands how I’m feeling.

“You reach out and have conversations. We have an amazing support team in Sport Ireland where we have access to psychologists and life skills that we’re better equipped with being able to cope with what is deemed the Olympic Blues.

“There’s been a couple of moments where you’d write out a paragraph of how you’re feeling and you both send it at the same time. And it’s basically a copy and paste. The feedback has been basically the same, no matter the result. Talking to an Olympic champion and they’re feeling the exact same. You don’t want to rush getting back into things but at the same time, you don’t know any better.”

Reflecting on his showing in Paris, Woolley feels both the encouragement of knowing a medal was within his reach, and also the disappointment of not having a medal in his hand. After losing his opening bout 2-0 to Azerbaijan’s Gashin Magomedov, Woolley got a second chance in the repechage but ultimately fell short against the bronze medallist at last year’s World Championships.

Having the crowd watching on was an added boost for him. The eerie Covid-enforced silence of the Tokyo Games reminded him of the movie, The Hunger Games. Paris was a far more vibrant experience where his family could attend having only watched their son compete a handful of times since he was 12.

After a few challenging days in the immediate aftermath of Paris, Woolley can only see the upsides of being a two-time Olympian now. 

“To say I’ve done it twice, it’s no fluke. It’s something I’ve dreamt of as a kid. To put on a good performance in front of what felt like a home crowd, was just something special. When I sit down and reflect on it, I’m super proud.”

Allianz ambassador, Jack Woolley was speaking in his hometown of Tallaght on his return from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.