Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has said that a “difficult two years” are behind her as she eyes a return to competitive swimming.
After receiving confirmation last week that she was free to return to the pool and compete, Jack said she felt relieved more than anything else.
“I think the biggest feedback I’ve seen from anybody who I’ve met or caught up with has been that they’ve noticed I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face,” she told Nine’s Today.
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“I obviously have been training for the past couple of months but knowing that I don’t have any of those legal fees or court cases to continue with, it’s just nice to be able to focus back on my swimming completely.”
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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. The appeal has now been dismissed.
“It was a very, very difficult two years. But I did have a really good support system around me, being my partner and my family and friends. And even my coach as well, my squad, they were all really, really helpful throughout,” she said.
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“I think for myself, it was just knowing that I did nothing wrong and that I was going to get through this and prove to everybody that I would never intentionally take anything.
“It’s not just about me, it’s about the future athletes that come after me.”
She said that both she and coach Dean Boxall have “a bit of a fire in our belly” regarding her making up for lost time.
“I definitely agree with him that I am tougher, I am stronger mentally and physically. It’s now just letting me do what I do best and swim,” she said.
The 22-year-old is now focused on qualifying for next year’s World Championships and Commonwealth Games, ahead of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
She says she still doesn’t know how the banned substance ended up in her body.
“I definitely haven’t got to the bottom exactly,” she said.
“But I was able to prove that on the scale of probability, where it potentially could’ve come from, being around gyms and airports and all those kind of things that were out of my normal routine, that I had no control over.
“So going forward, I’m very strict with how I do things and making sure that I’m on top of making sure that this doesn’t happen again to myself or anybody else.”
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