'My magic is never giving up' - The secret behind Nsilu Dilandu success

Nsilu Dilandu has made up for lost time by winning five medals, including a bronze at this year’s Multi-European Games in Sarajevo, surprising even himself with the speed with which he has found his feet.

ANIMATION INFLUENCE: Taekwondo athlete Leroy Nsilu Dilandu poses for a portrait during the European Games team day for Team Ireland. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Leroy Nsilu Dilandu didn’t win much in the international junior ranks. He was 17 and over a decade into his taekwondo journey when the road finally took him as far as a podium place and a silver medal claimed at the 2019 Luxembourg Open.

There’s a theory in the sport that a good junior rarely translates into a top senior, and vice versa, but it can’t have been easy to stick at it through all those childhood years when the rewards remained stubbornly over the next horizon.