Shayna Jack’s drug ban comments compared to Donald Trump by former anti-doping boss

Shayna Jack’s claim her reduced doping ban confirmed her innocence has been slammed by a former anti-doping boss as like Donald Trump claiming the US election.

Former Aussie anti-doping boss Richard Ings has compared Shayna Jack's comments about the reduction of her doping ban to those of Donald Trump on the US election result.

Shayna Jack has been brutally called out by Australia’s former anti-doping boss Richard Ings, who has likened her bittersweet response to her two-year drugs ban to Donald Trump’s insistence he won the US Presidential election.

The outspoken former chief executive of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency unloaded on Jack for claiming she had been found innocent after the Court of Arbitration (CAS) announced it had cut her four year suspension in half because they believed she had not deliberately taken a banned drug.

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I see Shayna Jack has instagrammed she is “innocent”.

A bit like Donald claiming he won the election.

My view attached. pic.twitter.com/1EbcVLWImP

— Richard Ings : 🇦🇺 Stay COVID Safe 🇦🇺 (@ringsau) November 16, 2020

“I see Shayna Jack has instagrammed she is “innocent”,” Ings posted on his own social media account.

“A bit like Donald claiming he won the election.”

Ings was only just warming up, criticising the media for “sympathetic” coverage of her case, and telling the 22-year-old Queenslander she should acknowledge her fault because she was still found guilty of breaking the rules and handed a two-year ban that rules her out of year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics.

“Ms Jack you broke a fundamental rule of sport. You had a banned substance in your system and you had significant fault for its presence,” Ings wrote.

“You received a global 2 year ban from any and all sporting competition. It isn’t the maximum ban but it’s a significant ban for a significant ban for a breach of rules.

“Your actions may not have been deliberate but your conduct contributed to the size of your global ban. I’d suggest acknowledging your fault in this.”

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Initially suspended for four years after testing positive to the anabolic agent ligandrol before last year’s world championships, Jack succeeded in getting her ban slashed to two years after the CAS accepted her version of events that she did not knowingly ingest the banned muscle-building substance.

Jack posted a statement on her Instagram after the verdict was released, saying the current anti-doping zero tolerance rules which ban competitors for accidental positive tests were “far from fair” but the decision from CAS proved she was no cheat so she would accept it.

“I walk a little taller tonight with the fact that this ordeal is finally over,” she wrote.

“I am returning to swimming – the sport that I have loved all my life and the sport that I will cherish just that little bit more ongoing.”

The extraordinary reaction on social media to the news of Jack’s reduced ban has been heavily split.

Jack’s supporters – including sprint queen Cate Campbell and other members of the Australian team – have publicly come out in strong support of Jack, saying she has been unfairly tainted as a drug cheat but did nothing wrong.

But the critics have accused Swimming Australia (SA) of double standards after Jack’s positive test was kept secret while at the same time Mack Horton refused to join China’s Sun Yang on the medal podium at last year’s world championships in South Korea.

Shayna Jack’s doping ban was reduced on appeal. Picture: AAP

Swimming Australia have always strongly denied any suggestion of a cover-up, saying they were following the protocols on confidentiality, and doubled down by pointing the finger of blame at the media for breaking the story.

“The approach to anti-doping is deliberately strong and needs to be – to protect the athletes and more broadly, the sport. We have a zero tolerance approach to doping and always will – this is our responsibility,” Swimming Australia said in a statement responding to Jack’s reduced suspension.

“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.

“It must not be forgotten that athletes have rights in the anti-doping system, one of these rights is confidentiality. It is unacceptable for the privacy of athletes to be compromised or for their wellbeing to be impacted as a result.”

Originally published as Shayna Jack’s drug ban comments compared to Donald Trump by former anti-doping boss