After more than two years out of the pool, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Shayna Jack is finally allowed to return to swimming.
Shayna Jack is free to continue her competitive swimming career after the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Sport Integrity Australia’s (SIA) appeal in her doping case.
SIA handed Jack a four-year suspension in 2019 after she tested positive to banned substance ligandrol. Her suspension was cut in half by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in November last year.
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WADA and SIA appealed the leniency of the two-year ban a month later and while the term of that suspension ended in July, Jack had not been permitted to race while the matter was ongoing.
On Thursday, the swimmer took to social media to express her relief that the “nightmare is finally over”.
“After a 2 year and 3 month battle, I have finally received my final decision that my appeal case has been dismissed by the Court of Arbitration,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I am now free to do what I love with no restrictions and am so overwhelmed with joy. 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.
“Thank you to everyone who has stood by me, supported me and help me overcome this challenge.
“I will speak more in the future, now is not the time … But watch this space, it’s only the beginning.”
Jack always maintained she “did not take the substance knowingly” and that she “would never intentionally take a banned substance that would disrespect my sport and jeopardise my career”.
Jack’s ban and the subsequent appeal cost her the chance to represent Australia at the Tokyo Games, which would have been the first Olympics of her career.
She previously won gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is yet to release a formal statement on the matter.
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