Leading Australian swimming coach Dean Boxall has vented his frustration over Shayna Jack's anti-doping case, saying his charge deserves a chance to realise her Olympic dream at Tokyo.
As time runs out for Jack to contest the 2020 trials, Boxall says he has been left scratching his head over why it has taken so long for the sprint champion to be given the chance to state her case.
Jack, 21, faces a suspension of up to four years after testing positive to Ligandrol, a non-steroid anabolic agent popular with bodybuilders, in July which resulted in her being dumped from the 2019 world titles team.
Jack said this week that she expected to be formally charged by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) by Christmas.
However she may have to wait until June for a formal hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) - the same month as the Tokyo Olympic trials.
"Why is this taking so long?" Boxall told Swimming World Magazine website.
"I keep asking myself when is this going to be over. I just want it over for her sake.
"Shayna deserves to fulfil her dreams."
Boxall said 2019 had first felt like "opening present after present" thanks to his talented roster, culminating in guiding Ariarne Titmus to 400m freestyle gold at July's world titles, upstaging American great Katie Ledecky.
"And then boom, the bomb goes off when you least expect it," Boxall said of Jack's anti-doping case.
"(But) Shayna is innocent. I know she's innocent. I believe in her and I know she will prove she is innocent - I have absolute faith in her."
Jack said this week her legal team would seek out other athletes who have been successful in proving they had used contaminated supplements after testing positive to Ligandrol.
"We have been working exhaustively with world experts in both sports law, other athletes charged with Ligandrol offences and experts in the field of testing supplements and samples," Jack posted on Instagram.
"This material will be used in our case before CAS.
"As you can hopefully understand, this has been a difficult time for me to adjust to a completely new lifestyle of not being able to follow my passion and dream for swimming - let the fight continue!"
Jack may still miss the Tokyo trials even if cleared by CAS.
There have been cases of athletes who accidentally test positive being banned, albeit with a reduced suspension.
Australian Associated Press
