"I'll fight to get myself back." Shayna Jack breaks her silence over swimming ban.

— With AAP.

Drug-tainted swimmer Shayna Jack remains determined to clear her name after a briefing in Brisbane on her positive test to a banned substance.

The 20-year-old spent almost five hours with mother Pauline and lawyer Paul Horvarth, being briefed on Friday by Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) officials.

Jack is facing a four-year ban after testing positive to Ligandrol, a muscle growth agent, during an Australian swim camp last month ahead of the world championships in South Korea. The substance is also used to treat degenerative muscle conditions like osteoporosis, but it’s also known to increase muscle mass and aid quick recovery.

 

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A post shared by Shayna Jack (@shayna_jack) on Jul 27, 2019 at 1:06am PDT

The freestyle specialist emerged from the briefing, vowing to fight the case.

“I’m really happy with how everything’s going and I’m not going to stop until I’ve proved my innocence,” she said, speaking to the media for the first time since her positive test result became public.

“I’ll fight to get myself back in the pool because that’s my dream and I’m never going to let that go.”

Jack and Horvarth were both asked what levels of Ligandrol had been found in her A and B samples, but did not provide an answer.

Jack, having denied knowingly taking the drug, refused to speculate on how it had been in her system.

“It’s still an ongoing investigation so we can’t clear that with anyone at the moment,” she said.

“We’re still looking into it but we’re not going to leave any stone unturned.”

ASADA is expected to provide correspondence to Jack’s legal team in four to six weeks outlining the case against her.

Horvarth said Jack had been “very honest to date” with officials.

 

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Jack also played down suggestions she was at odds with Swimming Australia (SA), amid reports she’d been told not to go public with the real reason she’d left the team before the world championships.

“Swimming Australia has been nothing but supportive of me and we’ve been a unit through the whole process,” she said.

“Every decision that we’ve made has been together and we are very happy with every decision that we’ve made.”

SA chief executive Leigh Russell told reporters last weekend after Jack’s positive test became public knowledge that the governing body had been bound by confidentiality rules with ASADA not to reveal the result of Jack’s initial A sample test.

Jack has already been banned from the rich International Swimming League after her positive result.

 

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A post shared by Shayna Jack (@shayna_jack) on Apr 10, 2019 at 2:07am PDT

In lieu of her positive test result prior to the World Aquatics Championships in South Korea, Jack and Swimming Australia told the public that she would not be participating in the competition due to “personal reasons”.

Speaking to the ABC, Richard Ings, the former head of Australia’s anti-doping authority ASADA, likened Jack’s case to the current controversy facing Chinese swimmer, Sun Yan, who was suspended for doping in 2014.

“This is a reminder that these sort of allegations of positive drug tests can happen to any athlete, in any sport, in any country and not just in China,” said Ings.

“The public do notice and ultimately what was said by Shayna Jack and Swimming Australia weeks ago about vague personal reasons become transparent weeks later as a lie. The truth needs to be told at the beginning.”

However he made it clear that Jack be given the “presumption of innocence unless or until a tribunal finds otherwise”.

For more on this topic:

• A week after Mack Horton’s doping protest, an Australian swimmer has failed a drug test.
• Shayna Jack always dreamed of being on the Aussie swim team. This month she was sent home for doping.
• Australian swimmer Shayna Jack hit with maximum four-year ban for failed drug test.
• The Quicky: How swimmer Shayna Jack failed her drug test.