Australian swimmer Shayna Jack was handed a 4-year ban by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) earlier this month.
As a refresher on the case, the 21-year old sprinter from Brisbane returned home to Australia in the middle of the country’s final preparation camp for the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, at the time saying that her withdrawal was for “personal reasons.” It was later revealed that Jack had tested positive for the banned substance Ligandrol.
Jack’s four-year ban is the maximum allowed for a first offense and implies that not only was she unable to prove a source of contamination but that she was unable to convince ASADA that her ingestion was accidental.
However, she and attorney Tim Fuller are armed with a new strategy for their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). As Jack tested positively while at the late June training camp in Cairns, The Sunday Mail reports that, in order to prove her innocence, Jack’s defense team will ‘examine the role of Swimming Australia staff members who ran the camp.’
‘While there’s no suggestion of any foul play, a deep dive into the actions of Swimming Australia personnel who were at the pre-World Championships training camp in 2019 is expected,’ with Jack’s camp claiming to have evidence that she ingested the Ligandrol during the time period where she was at the camp.
Additionally, The Sunday Mail reports that although she did not testify before ASADA, Jack is expected to take the stand whenever it is her case is heard by CAS.
Per the WADA Anti-Doping Code rule 10.6.1.2, ‘In cases where an athlete or other person can establish both no significant fault or negligence and that the detected prohibited substance came from a contaminated product, the period of ineligibility shall be, at a minimum, a reprimand and no period of ineligibility, and at a maximum, two years ineligibility, depending in the athlete or other person’s degree of fault.’
As such, with an Olympic Games now taking place in the year 2021, depending on when her CAS appellate hearing actually takes place, there is a possibility the St. Peters Western-based star could be back in the pool and potentially headed to Tokyo.
A reduction in the period of ineligibility is not unheard of. In fact, a case involving Japanese World Championships medalist Junya Koga testing positive for Ligandrol (LGD-4033) saw his original 4-year ban reduced to just 2.
So let’s get this straight. You get four years for a positive result, but EIGHT years for refusing to cooperate with sample collectors?
Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association (ASCTA) President and former Dolphin coach, Mr Tony Shaw, said it best:
“It is time for zero tolerance for drug cheats. If someone is convicted for using performance enhancing drugs, there should be a life ban. This is the policy of the International Swimming League and FINA should follow suit.”
Sun Yang was on a second offense, which under the World Anti-Doping Code carries stiffer penalties.
For Shayna Jack, this is only a first-time offense.
For goodness sake…. What a load of rubbish. No one else tested positive, please. Cries that she never had missed a test, or had a bad result – until she did, until she was caught. I have watched her carry on in the media about this and try at every opportunity to remain relevant just to get out of being held accountable. It is annoying and I cannot believe that people are still paying any attention to her. I can only hope that her efforts to now smear others and use every trick in the book to save herself are thrown out and she is told to get over it. Australian Swimming has much more to focus on than this… Read more »
So Shayna Jack’s Instagram posts with photos of her promoting a non-approved supplement drink from her sponsor didn’t raise any concerns with her coach in the 12 months leading up to her positive test result?
Apparently, ASADA’s long standing advice that “no supplement is safe to use and athletes should not risk their careers by taking a supplement” isn’t taken seriously by some coaches and swimmers.
I had assumed she was notified of her positive result during the pre-WC camp but the samples were taken before camp. Her defense sounds like both happened during camp.
Is she the only one tested during that camp?
Two different camps. One in Cairns in late June where the sample was collected and the other in Japan in July immediately before world champs where the test result was returned and she was sent home.
thanks! and I obviously did not real and line up the dates.
Did anyone else at the camp test positive???
Did anyone else at the camp test positive????
I know some people are not going to like this.
#1-Most athletes just don’t have the resources to test everything that they eat or supplements they take. It just isn’t financially possible.
#2- Some of the drug testing they are doing will show positive on levels of a banned substance when that level is so low that the athlete wouldn’t have gained any benefit and that level can easily have occurred from cross contamination.
It doesn’t cost anything to keep the last pill from every bottle just in case you test positive
That could also be another way to cheat.
USA Swimming finally hired NSF to test supplements for purity. If only taking those supplements and can prove with empty bottles, sales slips, etc. then at least would have a good legal argument.They have an app called “NSF for Sport” and they certify for baseball, and other professional sports. They certify supplements in all the major categories that athletes might take that are legal (creatine, caffeine, vitamins, muscle growth products, protein, AA’s, etc.). They are a non-profit organization that is highly skilled at all sorts of quality testing.
I’ve been to camps with some sketchy roommates and other swimmers. In fact, I can count one hand the people that came down for breakfast WITHOUT a pill box. I’m not saying all or any of them took anything illegal or otherwise prohibited by WADA, but with all due respect to athletes who need and take a bunch of supplements, make sure you know what’s in them!
And if you do take anything you shouldn’t and know about it – don’t be a coward when you’re caught. Admit it and retire!