Shayna Jack To Appeal To CAS After Australian Anti-Doping Recommends Four-Year Ban

Shayna Jack, of Australia, is to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the rule violation panel of Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) recommended that she be served a four-year ban after testing positive for a positive substance last June.

Jack, who returned home from the World Championships in Gwangju, Korea, last July for unexplained reasons, before racing began. She later announced that she had tested positive for a banned substance but said she had not knowingly taken the drug that showed upon in her system, Ligandrol.

Jack is not the first athlete to test positive for ligandrol. In 2015, the quarterback of the Florida Gators, Will Grier, was suspended for testing positive for ligandrol, a claim that the University of Florida denied. In 2017, Joakim Noah was banned for twenty games by the NBA for testing positive for ligandrol.

In clinical research trials conducted at the Boston Medical Center’s Section of Endocrinology, Ligandrol can help improve lean body mass and muscle strength.

Swimming Australia was criticised for having failed to explain, beyond ‘personal reasons’, why Jack had returned home even though it was aware of the real reason she could no longer compete in Gwangju.

Anti-doping regulations require the swimmer to fund the challenge to CAS, while success may result in others paying her costs, depending on the ruling of CAS judges.

The ASADA Hearing – An Insider’s View

ASADA is not obliged to name the swimmer on its list of sanctioned swimmers until 21 days after the CAS has delivered its verdict and the appeal process officially ends. Swimming Australia cannot comment until the appeal process is completed. While the federation cannot provide financial support, it has helped ensure that Jack has had mental-health assistance throughout the process.

Jack’s coach Dean Boxall expressed frustration at the length of time the process in her case was taking, the likelihood having been raised that any decision would come too late for her to seek Olympic selection.

Although the CAS appeal might have been heard as early as the middle of next month, the coronavirus lockdown in Europe and elsewhere may cause the case to be delayed.

Australia, which cancelled its senior and junior swimming Championships today, will host Olympic trials for Tokyo 2020 Olympic in Adelaide in mid-June but the Games themselves hang on a thread because of the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the forecasts for where its going next and what impact that will have on the spring community in the midst of a pandemic with tentacles in almost all corners of the globe. Cancellations of swimming trials and and Championships around the world have contributed to a swimming wipeout in the past few days, with more announcements to come.

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Kylie Finlayson

4 years ago

If she’s taken a banned substance then she should be banned for longer than 4 years. #cleansport

Natasha Vergone

4 years ago

James Hornby