Irish Olympian Jack Woolley has told of his determination to return to training after he was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Dublin city centre. 

The Olympic taekwondo fighter was attacked by a gang of eight to 12 people who assaulted a number of people on Dublin’s Liffey boardwalk on Friday night.

Horrific pictures taken after the incident showed the Olympian badly beaten with blood all over his clothes.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, Jack said the incident occurred on what was his first time out in Dublin since the Olympics.

“It was a shock. I saw a lot in the media about anti-social behaviour in the city, but I wasn’t worried because I hadn’t seen it firsthand, I wasn’t worried going around in the city I grew up in,” he said.

“I was the first one I recall being attacked and I was the last one put in an ambulance, that's how bad the other injuries were.

“My top lip came off, I had to get my lip put back on – I had to get it washed out and the way it was cut, I had a hole in my face, I had to get the front and the back stitched. I’m wearing a plaster now and I'm trying to speak as clearly as possible with it,” he said.

The 22-year-old said he is taking every day as it comes, and he is “getting on with things as they are”.

“I'm back in on Friday to get the stitches removed. The swelling is coming down, it's tender I’m just trying to take my painkillers and the medication I've been prescribed. I'm grateful it wasn't worse,” he added.

He said he shared a taxi with two other people who were hit in the face with bottles.

“I got one punch and then 'sorry wrong person' and they ran off, but then other people were hit further down the street as well.

"I'm not going to say I’m scared of going out in Dublin - I feel like it’s a one-off thing that can happen, a random attack. It won't happen too often to the same person,” he said.

Mr Woolley commented on the fact that many people are out on the street “because that’s where you have to be if you're not vaccinated, so I think there’s a lot of people at risk”.

Ireland’s first taekwondo competitor plans to get back to training as soon as possible.

“I just want to get back to normal and get back to training as soon as possible. I don’t want something like this to stop me,” he said.