S.Africa's le Clos urges ban for doping

Sunday, 28 July 2019:

SHAYNA JACK of Australia competes during the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Final of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
SHAYNA JACK of Australia competes during the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Final of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.


Four-time world champion Chad le Clos says swimmers should be banned for life on their first strike for doping after hearing Australian Shayna Jack has tested positive to a banned substance.

Ahead of the final day of the week-long world titles in South Korea on Sunday, the Dolphins have been rocked by Swimming Australia's confirmation that Jack, 20, had failed a drug test on June 26.

It is not a good look for Australia after their Olympic champion Mack Horton took a very public anti-doping stance against controversial Chinese star Sun Yang at Gwangju.

Jack raised eyebrows when she withdrew from the Dolphins' world titles team just days before the competition began, with officials initially citing "personal reasons".

But after learning the real reason behind sprinter Jack's departure, South African great le Clos admitted convicted dopers shouldn't be allowed to compete again.

"I'm not sure what the case is but my stance is always the same. If you test positive you shouldn't be allowed to swim," he said.

"Anybody that takes PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) shouldn't be allowed to swim, simple."

After initially refusing to elaborate on Jack's curious world titles team exit, Swimming Australia on Saturday confirmed the 20-year-old had actually failed a routine out of competition drug tests last month.

It is believed Jack failed the test at the Dolphins training camp in Cairns ahead of the world titles in South Korea.

Swimming Australia could not provide any more details about the results.

Meanwhile, le Clos admitted he was still bitter about Sun upstaging him in the 2016 Olympic Games, relegating him to 200m freestyle silver.

He hinted that he should receive the 200m gold if Sun is found guilty at his upcoming Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing in September.

Chinese star Sun served a three-month doping ban in 2014 and is under fire again at this year's world championships.

Swimmers were angry Sun had been allowed to contest the world titles ahead of his Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing.

Sun faces a lifetime ban if found guilty at CAS after allegations he smashed a vial of his blood with a hammer during a clash with doping officials last year.

"I want my (200m gold) medal back from Rio. I want that gold medal back but other than that, I don't really mind," le Clos said about Sun's upcoming CAS hearing.

"Good luck to them, if they want to cheat they're cheating themselves but I know I'm clean.

"I mean look at me, I'm a skinny little boy from Africa."






AAP