Jack Woolley left the Grand Palais without an Olympic medal around his neck but with his head held high. Woolley, 25, was left distraught when his first Games in Tokyo was done and dusted in no time at all. In his second, he also fell just short of winning a contest that would have put him in a bronze medal fight.
But Ireland's first and so far only taekwondo Olympian described his day "weird and lovely" after bowing out at the repechage stage to a familiar foe, his Spanish rival Adrian Yunta. READ MORE: Irish hopes Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow suffer torrid day at Le Golf National READ MORE: Kellie Harrington doing something that few of the all time greats have managed It was a very close encounter. Yunta took the first round 10-9, with the referee's appeal that the Spaniard's foot went out of the ring before the clock went to 0.
0 was not upheld. It was the right call, and it was crucial. The second was even closer, finishing 2-2, and Yunta was awarded the round on countback due to scoring with more technical shots.
Earlier, after his quarter-final loss to the hugely impressive Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov, Woolley had said it would be a dream come true if he was able to come back to fight in the "beautiful" Grand Palais stage, the finest he had ever competed at. That dream was fulfilled and, after spending a rejuvenating hour with friends and supporters, he was "buzzing" to get back in as Magomedov's advance to the final opened the door for him to contest the repecha.