Swimming coach Dean Boxall is excited by Shayna Jack‘s potential after she was cleared to return to competition.
Earlier this week the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an appeal challenging her reduced ban, which paved the way for her to finally resume her swimming career.
“I am now free to do what I love with no restrictions and am so overwhelmed with joy,” Jack said on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT4Ivp9F2qB/
“I am now going to take some time to myself to cherish this moment and reflect on what I have endured. The nightmare is finally over.
“I will speak more in the future, now is not the time… but watch this space, it’s only the beginning.”
Jack was suspended for four years after testing positive to the prohibited substance ligandrol – “an anabolic agent” – in July 2019 before the FINA World Championships in South Korea.
The ban was reduced to two years last year by the CAS however Sport Integrity Australia (formerly known as ASADA) and the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) appealed that decision in December.
After the CAS’ decision this week to dismiss that appeal, Boxall is one of many in the swimming community eager to see what Jack can now produce in the pool.
“It has finally come to an end,” Boxall told Sydney Morning Herald.
“That’s two years and three months, it’s been brutal. But she’s come out the other side and she can start to head towards her first Australian trials.
“She’s hungrier, she’s a lot more determined. She’s thick-skinned, she has good body armour on her now. There were just so many delays but when I spoke with her [Thursday], it was a different girl at the end of the phone.”
Boxall is well known in swimming circles but caught the attention of the nation during the Tokyo Olympics for his enthusiastic celebration of Ariarne Titmus’ gold medal win over American rival Katie Ledecky. Throughout Jack’s fight to clear her name and return to swimming Boxall has been in her corner, helping her train alongside Titmus at St Peters Club’s in Brisbane.
Boxall was upbeat about what Jack – still only 22 – can produce for Australia in the pool, with time on her side and extra “fire in the belly” after what she’s been through.
“She’s certainly better than she was two years ago. How good can she be? I don’t know. We just don’t know. When she was younger, she was just a prodigy, she looked like the real deal,” Boxall said.
“Now we get a wiser, stronger, determined Shayna, a girl that is fearless. She wants some revenge in the pool.”
Jack was a member of the 4x100m freestyle relay team that set a world record in claiming gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
She confirmed to the Herald that her next focus is the Queensland titles in December before then aiming to make the World Championships and Commonwealth Games squads for next year.
“I’ll probably shed a tear I reckon when I see her up on the blocks again,” Boxall said.