Olympic star Jack Woolley has said he was left with a 'hole in his face' after a horrific unprovoked attack in Dublin city last week.
Taekwondo star Jack, 22, sustained a serious injury to his upper lip in the incident which happened on Dublin’s Grattan Bridge early on Saturday.
He told his followers on social media as he was walking along the boardwalk at the River Liffey, a gang of eight to 12 men and women in their 20s began attacking people.
Recalling the horrific attack he told RTE's Morning Ireland: "I was just walking after a meal and a few drinks with my friends because I hadn't seen them since Tokyo.
"I was just walking down the street next to the Liffey and I turned around because I heard a bit of noise there was a few people on the street.
"By the time I looked back around where I was going there was a few people on the road and one of them just hit me then apologised and said 'Oh sorry wrong person' and continued on their way down to unfortunately assault other people on the road.
"A lot of people are asking why didn't you defend yourself. it was literally just one punch that connected with my front teeth, busted my lip open.
"At the time the best thing to do was just get safe get somewhere, where I could safely call an ambulance and just get seen to.
"I feel a bit embarrassed over it. If I retaliated god knows what would have happened because I know there was a lot of people in worse states by the same group of people."
Speaking about the brutal injuries he was left with after the assault he described he needed stitches to reattach his top lip.
He said: "I had to get my lip reconstructed back. the way it was cut was all the way straight through. There was a hole in my face my top lip had completely come off.
"I needed to get stitches in the front and the back to just get it back on."
Despite the nature of the brutal attack Jack said he's determined not to let the incident get him down and affect his life.
And he went on to say he was sharing his story as a caution for people to be vigilant while out socialising.
"I'm trying to take the positives out of everything. There's no point in moping I can't go back in time so I'm just getting on with things as they are.
"It was a bit of a shock because I've been away and I know there's been a lot in the media about anti social behaviour.
"I wasn't too worried about going out in the city I grew up in so it goes to show it can happen to anyone at any time.
"The comment that was passed after I was hit, there was just the one punch and he ran off and said, 'Oh sorry wrong person' but from what I've seen afterwards there had been random people that didn't know each other down the street that were injured.
"I'm not going to say I'm necessarily scared of going out in Dublin. It's a random attack its not going to be happening too often to the same person I hope.
"It's not affecting me too much mentally. I'm just trying to get on with it the best I can."
