SAS Australia: Australian swimmer Shayna Jack opens up on ‘living nightmare’
Australian athlete Shayna Jack is determined to clear her name after her swimming career was derailed by a four-year ban for doping.
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Shayna Jack remains committed to fighting her career-ending doping ban, claiming she is innocent of any wrongdoing in an emotional episode of SAS Australia.
Jack was a gold medallist during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and holds the world record for the 4x100m Freestyle Relay event.
But as she prepared for a maiden Olympic Games, the Australian sporting landscape was rocked by the announcement Jack had returned a positive test for the substance Ligandrol in July last year.
After withdrawing from the FINA World Championships in mysterious circumstances, it was confirmed Jack had tested positive for the banned substance.
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Ligandrol, also known as or LGD 4033, is a black market muscle-builder known to improve your appearance without the unwanted side effects experienced with steroid use.
During Monday evening’s episode of Channel 7’s SAS Australia, Jack was asked to recount events leading up to her four-year ban from professional swimming.
“I’ve swum my whole life and never done anything different,” Jack said.
“A year and a bit ago, I got accused of taking drugs, which I’d never do, ever.
“I was just going into a training camp prior to the World Championships in 2019. They did just a regular drug test. It was normal for me to get drug tested, so I didn’t think anything of it.
“Then they called up the head coach, and that was it. I got sent home and they gave me a four-year ban from swimming, which would be the end of my career.
“My whole life I’ve been an honest athlete. The purpose of my swimming was the fact that I could impact somebody else’s life and be a role model for them, because that’s how I fell in love with the sport.
“I met an Olympian that I looked up to, and she just was so humble and amazing, and I wanted to be like that.”
When asked what would happen is she could never compete professionally again, Jack broke down in tears.
“That’s probably the hardest question anyone could ever ask me, because I’ve never thought about anything else but swimming,” Jack said.
“I can’t go see my coach, I can’t just go swim with my squad, I can’t go and play another sport just for fun.
“I just want to be able to go back to swimming and love swimming again. And sometimes I forget how strong I am, and it does get to me a fair bit.”
After receiving notice from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of her impending appeal date, Jack is eager to restore her public image and save her career.
“The one thing that hurts me more than anything to my core is that — yes, I’ve had a dream to represent my country at the Olympics since I was 10 — but it’s more the fact that I’ve always done the right thing by my sport and by my country,” Jack said.
“I’ve never felt so much pain and anger that I feel for the fact that I don’t have control of what’s happening.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve this, and that’s a question I’ve asked myself for nine months, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’
“Every day for the past year has been a living nightmare, but I am someone who will speak up when it’s not right, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.
“I’m not going to sit back and let people try and accuse me of something I didn’t do.
“I’ve still got to think about the fact I’ve still got my swimming career, and I won’t stop fighting, and I will clear my name. That’s all that matters to me.”
In December, Jack spoke about the surprising commonality of the Ligandrol drug, which is a banned substance for professional athletes.
The 21-year-old never denied the drug was found in her system, but rather questioned how it got there. She cited a past case, known as the “kiss cocaine case”, to demonstrate the ease of contamination.
“There was a case in the past called the kiss cocaine case … someone had taken cocaine and the partner who was an athlete kissed that person and they were contaminated,” Jack told Channel 10’s The Sunday Project.
“I was being told that anything I come in contact with, within that period, could have been a risk of the contamination.
“There’s a chance of it being in a contaminated supplement.”
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Jack faced intense media backlash when her positive result was leaked. In June, she was forced to contact Queensland police after receiving threats and demands for money on social media before her Facebook account was hacked.
“I wasn’t ready for the rollercoaster that was yet to come in regards to media,” Jack said.
“I wasn’t watching the news. The only reason I knew (about the media leak) was because someone had gone on to my Instagram and commented, ‘You’re a drug cheat and you should kill yourself.’
“I just lost control of all my emotions, and I haven’t had much control of my emotions since that day.”
Jack opted to quit SAS Australia after struggling to complete an intense and arduous task on the beach.
“I’m done. I can’t do this s**t,” she exclaimed.
“I’m done, I’m sorry.”
Originally published as SAS Australia: Australian swimmer Shayna Jack opens up on ‘living nightmare’