Australian swim star Shayna Jack has failed a drug test, just one week after Mack Horton staged a protest against Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, who was suspended for doping in 2014.
“It is with great sadness and heartache that I had to leave due to allegations of having a prohibited substance in my system,” Jack posted to her Instagram, confirming her drug-use.
“I did NOT take this substance knowingly,” the 20-year-old insisted. “Swimming has been my passion since I was 10 years old and I would never intentionally take a banned substance that would disrespect my sport and jeopardise my career.”
She continued: “Now there is an ongoing investigation and my team and I are doing everything we can to find out when and how this substance has come into contact with my body. I would appreciate if you respect my privacy as this is very hard for me to cope with.”
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The feud between Mack Horton and Sun Yang got thoroughly out of hand. At the end of the day Sun Yang was competing because FINA said he could compete. If Mack or any other athlete had a problem with Sun competing, they needed to take it up with FINA. It is always easy with hindsight, but humiliating another athlete by refusing to stand next to him wasn't the way. It all seems particularly unfortunate in light of one of our swimmers testing positive for a banned substance.
Mack's protest was an appalling display of bad sportsmanship. As a non doping competitor, he should swim to the best of his ability, and let his performance speak for itself. Sun had permission to compete AND has a case under process (so the claims that the governing bodies are ignoring doping are unfounded) if Sun is found guilty, then Mack will probably be given gold at that point, but Sun may ofcourse be found to have not done wrong, in which case Mack cannot go back and change his behaviour on the podium.
I don't understand how you can take something unknowingly? Even if it's something as simple as Panadol, surely athletes know by now that absolutely everything should be checked out? Unless they're having a gun held to their heads or having their drinks spiked, they are responsible for knowing about and doing the research on everything that goes into their bodies.
They know. I used to row, I went as far as medal placement at national championships as a junior AND NO FURTHER, yet STILL I knew how much caffeine I could consume, what over the counter medications were ok and not, I had a 'drugs in sport' handbook and knew to call to check anything prescribed or otherwise that wasn't clarified in the book. I knew this from age 13.
"I didn't know what I was taking" is the athlete's equivalent of "the dog ate my homework". For once it would be refreshing to hear drug cheats just own up to cheating when they are caught, rather than insulting everyone's intelligence by insisting they are somehow the unwitting victims in the situation.
Athletes usually take various supplements. Shes akkeging that it may have been in a supplement that was contaminated. Kind of the same way that peanuts can contaminate food if they are made in the same factory but not on the ingredient list
Even if it's supplements they should still be checking that they're OK to take.