ZCZC
BSP-05
SWIM-WORLD-2019-DOPING-AUS
Swimming Australia denies cover-up of Jack failed drug test
MELBOURNE, July 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Swimming Australia insisted Sunday it
followed the rules in dealing with a failed drug test by relay world-record
holder Shayna Jack, rejecting claims it wasn’t transparent about the
“embarrassing” result.
The 20-year-old, part of Australia’s 4x100m freestyle team that set a
world record at last year’s Commonwealth Games, failed an out-of-competition
test late last month and has been suspended.
She returned home days before the start of the world championships in
South Korea citing “personal reasons” but news of the incident only emerged
in a media report on Saturday, with Jack then denying wrongdoing in an
Instagram post.
In a statement released after the revelation, Swimming Australia admitted
the Australian Sports Anti-doping Authority (ASADA) had told it Jack tested
positive on June 26.
But the Australian governing body maintained it was required to keep the
details confidential “until such time as either ASADA or the individual
athlete release details of an adverse test result”.
Richard Ings, the former head of ASADA, questioned this in a tweet late
Saturday and called Jack’s explanation for missing the world championships
“an untruth”.
“If Swimming Australia are suggesting that their anti-doping policy,
approved by ASADA, forbids them from announcing the Jack provisional
suspension, they are wrong,” he said.
In a follow-up tweet Sunday morning, he added: “If Swimming Australia and
ASADA have a policy of not announcing provisional suspensions then they
should quickly change it.
“Major global sports all announce provisional suspensions. You can’t hide
suspended athletes. It always gets out. Transparency is permitted by WADA
(World Anti-Doping Authority).”
Swimming Australia chief executive Leigh Russell, who called the test
result “bitterly disappointing and embarrassing”, insisted the rules were
“very, very clear” and they prevented her from speaking out earlier.
“I accept this is a frustrating position, but also I accept that Shayna
has the right to a fair process,” Russell told reporters in Melbourne on
Sunday.
“She told us she was preparing to announce the adverse test results this
week. She said she wanted to wait until her teammates had finished
competing.”
Russell said she was not permitted to provide more details about the
result, acknowledging it wasn’t ideal for Swimming Australia’s hands to be
tied.
“It makes it very tough for national sporting organisations to be
transparent,” she said.
The first positive test related to the world championships is disastrous
for Australia after Olympic champion Mack Horton’s protest against Chinese
rival Sun Yang in Gwangju over salacious claims he smashed vials of blood
following a test last year.
Russell said the team was only told of Jack’s test result on Saturday and
insisted Horton would have taken the same stance even if he had known.
“I think that Mack has made a stand for something that he truly believes
in,” she said.
“And I think actually we have the same stance — we absolutely do not want
drugs in our sport.”
BSS/AFP/MSY/0907 hrs