Out bisexual Olympian Jack Woolley was brutally beaten by a violent mob in Dublin, Ireland over the weekend, the athlete said in an Instagram post on August 14.
Woolley, 22, who competed on Ireland’s 2020 Taekwondo team, took to social media with blood and cuts all over his face, according to a photo shared with more than 40,000 Instagram followers after the attack. Woolley said he was heading home from the bar when a group of men and women abruptly ambushed him. While it is unclear what provoked the attack, one of the suspects in the group allegedly punched Woolley in the face and said, “my mistake wrong person,” before they fled the scene. Woolley suffered multiple injuries to his mouth and had facial reconstructive surgery.
“Last night (Friday 13th August) I went for a meal with my friend,” Woolley wrote in an Instagram post. “Followed by a bar for a couple of drinks. Heading back along the River Liffey a gang of roughy 8-12 men and women in their 20s began violently attacking people along the boardwalk. Unfortunately I was victim to these random attacks … as I was just walking by I was punched in the face by one of these group members.”
He added, “Luckily I was able to phone an ambulance and stay conscious. My friends helped me through out all of this and I’m glad to say they both are well and safe. I am lucky this is all that happened as there were a handful of us hospitalised and two men stabbed. I’m currently waiting in James’s hospital for mouth surgery.”
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The Olympian’s mother, Annette Woolley, said Woolley is expected to be discharged from the hospital.
“He said he was okay, and he’s going to get some sleep…we’re hoping that they’ll let him out today,” the victim’s mother told The Irish Times.
According to The Irish Times, local authorities said the investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made.
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