Shayna Jack has cast doubt on her swimming future after the Australian revealed the mental and financial toll her doping case has taken over the past 18 months.
Jack, who is serving a two-year ban after being found to have ingested a banned anabolic agent in 2019, said the fight to clear her name has left her “mentally exhausted” and considering walking away from the sport.
“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,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “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.”
Jack was initially banned for four years by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority after returning an out-of-competition drugs test that showed the presence of Ligandrol in her system.
After an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which concluded the Queenslander did not knowingly take Ligandrol, that was reduced to two years.
Jack’s ban is due to expire in July this year, but the two-year sanction is now subject to another appeal after both Sports Integrity Australia and the World Anti Doping Authority lodged their own appeals with Cas in November last year.
Jack said at the time she was relieved to have had the ban downgraded and was focused on resuming her career after the Tokyo Olympics. But the latest setback and the new uncertainty has clouded her future plans to remain an elite swimmer.
“Getting a deduction from four years to two 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,” she wrote.
“Then comes the bombshell. 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.”
Jack said she has spent more than $130,000 on attempts to prove her innocence since she was first informed of the positive drugs test result on the eve of the 2019 world championships in South Korea.
“I love swimming and competing for my country, but I honestly don’t know if this is all worth it anymore,” she wrote. “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.
“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 OK because I’m not and I hope you all think that is OK too.”
Swimming Australia, the sport’s national governing body, in November called for empathy for Jack.
“The approach to anti-doping is deliberately strong and needs to be ... we have a zero-tolerance approach to doping and always will,” a statement read. “However, this does not mean that we cannot demonstrate care and empathy for young people who are part of our community, who are thrust into a complex system that can be overwhelming, often confusing and confronting.”
