|
(Reuters) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS) on Monday halved Australian swimmer Shayna Jack's
four-year ban for a positive drug test before last year's world
championships, saying she did not intentionally ingest the
banned anabolic agent Ligandrol.
The 22-year-old freestyle swimmer was withdrawn from the team
days before the championships in Gwangju, South Korea, having
tested positive for the substance in an out-of-competition test
on June 26 last year.
Swimming Australia provisionally suspended Jack before the
Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority said she would be banned
for four years commencing July 12, 2019 subject to any procedure
she would initiate at CAS.
"Jack is found to have committed a violation of Article 2.1 of
the Swimming Australia Ltd Anti-Doping Policy 2015 and is
suspended for a period of two years commencing as from the date
of her provisional suspension," CAS said in a statement.
"... The sole arbitrator in charge of this matter found, on the
balance of probabilities, that Jack did not intentionally ingest
Ligandrol and considered that she had discharged her onus of
proving the anti-doping rule violation was not intentional.
"As a consequence, the sole arbitrator imposed a reduced period
of ineligibility of two years, commencing on the date of her
provisional suspension."
Jack, who is set to miss the Tokyo Olympics next year, said on
Instagram that sport's highest court "confirmed in emphatic
terms" that she did not intentionally use Ligandrol.
"There was no evidence produced by my accusers as to how this
substance entered my system. With the time out of the sport
dating back to July 2019, I'll be eligible to return to
competitive swimming by July 2021," she said.
"... I cannot change the rules and the rules will remain as they
are for the time being. Therefore, I accept this decision with a
positive attitude and with gratitude that my career as a swimmer
will resume next year."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by
Christian Radnedge)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
