Australian swimmer Shayna Jack banned doping for two years

Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has been banned for doping offenses for two years.

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) upheld the result of an out-of-competition test in 2019 that found Jack ingested the banned substance Ligandrol. However, the CAS stated that it accidentally did this.

The test became public when she was forced to withdraw from last year’s World Swimming Championships in South Korea.

She was provisionally banned for four years, but the court found that the sentence would be cut in half for not using the drug on purpose.

She can return to competitive swimming next July, but that’s too late to qualify for the Olympics.

In a statement, the CAS said a sole arbitrator found “Shayna Jack did not take Ligandrol intentionally and believed that she fulfilled her burden of proving that the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional”.

Jack always claimed that she hadn’t knowingly taken the drug.

She wrote on Instagram Monday night saying she was innocent.

“The CAS has made strong assurances that I have not intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly used Ligandrol in any way,” she wrote.

“I’m going a little bigger tonight because this ordeal is finally over.”

“My prosecutors have provided no evidence of how this substance got into my system.”

“I have proven that I have never cheated or used banned substances intentionally or knowingly.”

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Before Jack test positive, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority issued a warning that the number of athletes trapped with the drug in their system had increased from two in 2015 to nine in 2017.

Anti-doping experts warned of the danger of unknowingly using prohibited drugs in contaminated dietary supplements.

“The anti-doping rules are far from satisfactory and can lead to results that are far from fair,” wrote Jack on Instagram.

Jack said she was going back to sports.

“I’m returning to swimming – the sport I’ve loved all of my life and the sport I’ll appreciate a little more,” wrote Jack.

The World Anti-Doping Agency or the World Swimming Authority FINA can appeal the decision of the court.

Jack’s case gained notoriety just days after Australian swimmer Mack Horton refused to stand on a podium in protest against Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, who was charged with an anti-doping injury but was allowed to swim at the World Championships .

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, now Sports Integrity Australia, has also been criticized in some circles for how long it took to get through.