Swimmer Shayna Jack’s case against long-running drugs ban looms after much expense

Before adjudicating on Shayna Jack’s drawn out case, Sun Yang’s case will be heard next week, with the verdict expected to be known before the Tokyo Olympics.

Shayna Jack’s drawn out anti-doping case has finally been given a hearing date, with the appeal against her reduced two-year-ban scheduled for June 28 and 29.

Jack’s appeal will take place through a videolink, with the Australian swim star defending herself over two days in front of a panel of three ­arbitrators.

It is expected Jack’s defence team will again call on several high-profile witnesses to vouch for her character, including coaches and swimmers likely to be picked on the Dolphins squad for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

Shayna Jack was allowed to resume full training last week but faces being kicked out of the pool again if she loses her appeal.

A member of the Australian relay that set the current 4x100m freestyle world record, Jack is prevented from trying to make the team because her two-year suspension ends just weeks after the Australian trials for Tokyo, which are taking place in Adelaide from June 12-17.

The Queenslander was allowed to resume full training last week but faces being kicked out of the pool again if she loses her appeal, which comes almost two years to the day after she tested positive for the banned anabolic agent ligandrol at a national team training camp before the 2019 world championships.

Jack was part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team at the last Commonwealth Games which broke the world record.

Jack, 22, has always maintained she did not intentionally cheat and has no idea how the drug got into her system but her case is still ongoing.

Initially suspended for four years by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA), Jack’s ban was halved to two years after she appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who agreed with her version of events that it was an innocent mistake after the levels found in her samples were so low as to be “pharmaceutically irrelevant”.

The Queenslander has always maintained she did not intentionally cheat.

The freestyler has already spent more than $100,000 to clear her name.

However, both the SIA and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed against the reduction, seeking “clarity on key anti-doping legal principles”.

That’s what will be decided next month although the verdict is not expected until well after the Tokyo Olympics end on August 8, prompting complaints from Jack’s supporters about how long and costly the whole saga has been.

Stripped of her funding, Jack has already spent more than $100,000 fight to clear her name and launched a crowd-funding campaign to cover her appeal costs, raising over $50,000. Before adjudicating on Jack’s case, the Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear Sun Yang’s case next week — with the verdict expected to be expedited before the Tokyo Olympics.

Jack failed a routine out-of-competition drug test in 2019.

One of China’s wealthiest athletes, Sun was banned for eight years for tampering with his samples before they could be tested for drugs but his high-powered international legal team won an appeal questioning the impartiality of one of the judges who posted comments on social media castigating the Chinese practice of slaughtering dogs for meat consumption.

Sun’s appeal will be held from March 25-27 — also via videolink — leaving the arbitrators just eight weeks to make their findings before the Olympics start on July 23.

Chinese swimming officials have already changed their regulations for picking their team for Tokyo so that Sun will be automatically selected if he wins his appeal.

China’s favourite swimmer will be gifted his spot in the team for Tokyo just because he won a gold medal at the 2019 championships — the same meet where Australian anti-drugs crusader Mack Horton protested against Sun’s participation while his drugs case was still pending.