Olympian confirmed as latest Dancing with the Stars contestant

Jack Woolley became the first ever athlete to represent Ireland in taekwondo at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Picture: Barry McCall

Irish Olympian Jack Woolley is the fourth celebrity to compete at Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) next month, the state broadcaster has said.

DWTS returns to our screens on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player in January, and Jack said the experience will be “something completely new to him.”

Jack became the first ever athlete to represent Ireland in taekwondo at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Recently he competed at the Paris Olympics in the summer and won silver medals at the European Championships in 2022 and the European Games in 2023, respectively.

Jack said he thinks his taekwondo skills will help him, but dancing will be “completely new” to him.

“With taekwondo, I'm standing in front of somebody who's moving and I’m responding to what they're doing. I'm fighting them, and it's so unpredictable.

“But with this, you've got the set steps that you have to do in time. That's going to be completely new to me. Luckily, I have a nice start because I've got the athleticism, but I can't just take that for granted,” he said.

Jack Woolley of Team Ireland during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Jack was hospitalised after being attacked in Dublin a mere five days after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in August 2021.

He experienced an outpouring of support when he shared a post and some photos detailing the incident on social media and subsequently spoke openly about the attack on The Late Late Show.

Jack is the fourth celebrity to be announced following yesterday’s reveal of comedian Gearóid Farrelly, Mrs. Brown’s Boys actor Danny O’Carroll was announced on Tuesday and former Miss Universe Ireland, Aishah Akorede was revealed on Monday.

The remaining celebrity contestants joining the new series of DWTS will be announced throughout the rest of this week.