Australian swimmer Shayna Jack fails drug test

Shayna Jack, who mysteriously withdrew from the world championships in South Korea citing ‘personal reasons’, has failed a drug test.

Australian swimmer Shayna Jack.

Australian women’s freestyle swimmer Shayna Jack has tested positive for a banned substance, Swimming Australia said on Saturday.

The 20-year-old, part of Australia’s world record-breaking 4x100m freestyle team, failed an out-of-competition test conducted on June 26, officials added.

The athlete returned to Australia before the start of the world championships in Gwangju.

Jack suddenly withdrew from the championships earlier this month, citing “personal reasons”.

Officials intially failed to elaborate on the circumstances behind her exit, until the Courier Mail today reported the swimmer was sent home after returning an abnormal A sample during routine, pre-competition testing in Japan two weeks ago.

In a statement today, Jack, 20, said she had not “knowingly” taken a banned substance.

“Swimming has been my passion since I was 10 years old and I would never intentionally take a banned substance that would disrespect my sport and jeopardise my career,” she was quoted as saying.

Jack at the World Swimming Trials in June.

“Now there is an ongoing investigation and my team and I are doing everything we can to find out when and how this substance has come into contact with my body.”

Jack, from Brisbane, was a member of the Australia’s team which broke the world record at last year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

The news comes as the meet is rocked by doping protests, sparked when Australian swimmer Mack Horton refused to take the podium next to Chinese superstar Sun Yang. Yang is accused of deliberatley destroying his own blood samples after a test but denies any wrongdoing.

In an interview today, Sun said he felt insulted by the “disrespect” shown to him by fellow swimmers and insisted his actions in smashing the samples was to protect other athletes from dodgy testing practices.

Jack’s exit did not stop Australia claiming 4x100m freestyle women’s gold on the opening night of the world swimming titles.

Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon, Brianna Throssell and Cate Campbell clocked three minutes, 30.21 seconds — a new championship record — to claim gold ahead of the United States and Canada.

With AFP