Australian swimmer Shayna Jack said in an Instagram post on Tuesday that her battle against doping accusations has cost her over 130,000 Australian Dollars (about 100,000 US Dollars).
The revelation was part of a long post by Jack discussing the weight of the charges, which drag on amid an appeal of the reduction of the suspension from 4 years to 2 years.
The 22-year old Jack was given an initial 4-year doping ban by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) after testing positive for the banned substance Ligandrol in 2019. The positive test was revealed after Jack left Australia’s World Championships preparation camp for “personal reasons,” later revealed to be the result of the positive doping test.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), on appeal, reduced Jack’s ban to 2 years in November of 2020, but ASADA (now known as Sport Integrity Australia), has appealed that reduction back to the CAS, asking for the 4 years to be reinstated.
In the post, Jack ponders a future without swimming.
“I love swimming and competing for my country, but I honestly don’t know if this is all worth it anymore,” Jack said in the post. “That is the saddest part about all this. Knowing I am innocent of ever taking a prohibited substance intentionally and that this process could potentially be the reason I no longer want to be Shayna Jack the swimmer. If you were in a work place that didn’t want you, didn’t treat you the way you deserve, and questioned who you are, would you stay? I know my worth, and no one in this world deserves to be treated the way I have been treated. I deserve better than this and I’m not going to sit around pretending that I’m okay because I’m not and I hope you all think that is okay too.”
Jack, who continues to proclaim that she is “innocent of ever taking a prohibited substance intentionally,” also laments the cost of fighting the charges in the post.
“I have absorbed the burden of losing over 130k since this drug accusation began. And now they want more? How much more can these people continue to take from me?”
Jack doesn’t break down how much of that 130,000 AUD is the result of actual costs versus the costs of lost sponsorships, though she has continued to promote multiple brands and products on her social media channels.
Jack’s two-year suspension expires on July 11, 2021. That’s prior to the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games, though it’s after the conclusion of Australia’s selection trials.
That would make Jack eligible to represent Australia in major international competitions as early as the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships.
Jack’s post, followed by the full original text of that post, are below:
I know many of you have viewed or heard from me in a positive light and I have always tried to see the good in tough situations or challenges. But enough is enough. I have been fighting tirelessly for myself every hour of each day for over 18 months now and I am mentally exhausted. Getting a deduction from 4 years to 2 years was a weight off my shoulders, finally I could focus on my swimming again and get back to what I love more than anything. Then comes the bombshell. Some of you may know but many of you won’t realise that SIA and WADA appealed the decision handed down by an arbitrator who has been in practice for more than 40 years, back in November last year. I am hurting. I am struggling. And more than that, I am scared that as much as I fight and as much as I throw money into this fight, I will always lose up against these authorities. I have absorbed the burden of losing over 130k since this drug accusation began. And now they want more? How much more can these people continue to take from me? I love swimming and competing for my country, but I honestly don’t know if this is all worth it anymore. That is the saddest part about all this. Knowing I am innocent of ever taking a prohibited substance intentionally and that this process could potentially be the reason I no longer want to be Shayna Jack the swimmer. If you were in a work place that didn’t want you, didn’t treat you the way you deserve, and questioned who you are, would you stay? I know my worth, and no one in this world deserves to be treated the way I have been treated. I deserve better than this and I’m not going to sit around pretending that I’m okay because I’m not and I hope you all think that is okay too 😥😔🥺
Should just claim the charges are baseless. That seems to work well in the US.
The price of cheating…
Hammer 🔨 defense has never failed
If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.
Always original.
From the Baretta theme song
But still bought that Jeep
She can model for slim fast in a few years and will make up the $
Either she’s somehow innocent, or she’s super desperate. Leaning toward the desperate….
I’ve leaned towards the desperate since day one. But then again, who knows?
I mean sometimes there is a scenario where they’re actually innocent, like Madyson Cox, but considering that many athletes have anonymously admitted to doping, and get away with it, my inclination is to doubt the innocence on every test. The ones we caught are just the ones who weren’t able to mask the substance or get it out of their system in time.
You got me extremely curious to find where those anonymous athletes admitted to dope, link??
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/29/sport-doping-study-revealing-wider-usage-published-after-scandalous-delay
😱😱😱😱😱
Braden beat me to it
I maybe bias as I’m an Aussie, I think she is innocent in that she didn’t purposely take it, but guilty of being an elite athlete & not knowing what goes in her body.
I can understand that she is sick of this whole thing, no matter what, she will be tainted & it will stick.
The main point is she will not be swimming at the Olympics while some other tainted athletes will be or might be.
I agree- with the Australian testing regime you would have to be a complete idiot to knowingly take a prohibited substance….
Oh that’s terrible. Maybe don’t dope next time?
Or get you a hammer and smash the vials of your samples.
And then say the court was racist
then say you were in the country illegally