Jack Woolley: ‘Tokyo was a very lonely games, and that’s why I really wanted to push for Paris’

The Olympic taekwondo athlete — and recent Dancing With The Stars runner-up — Jack Woolley shares his fondest sporting memories

Jack Woolley at the launch of Cairn Community Games. Photo: Julien Behal

My involvement with Cairn Community Games goes back to before I was even born. In the 1980s, my grandparents were volunteers with the organisation, when my mam and her siblings were competing. My mam became a volunteer when I was a kid, and I competed as soon as I was able to.

I was a very sporty kid — everybody in the family was involved in sport. My brother was into GAA, mam used to run for the Irish athletics team, and my dad’s ex-army, so he’s pretty fit. And then my grandparents swam — so we kind of got thrown into everything when we were kids. I remember going to the Community Games national finals for the first time in 2008, where I won a medal. I represented Dublin in athletics and that helped me get to where I am today, because of the stuff I learned — like how much fun sports was.