Swimmer Shayna Jack vows to prove her innocence

Australian swimmer Shayna Jack has vowed to fight and leave no stone unturned in her attempt to clear her name from doping.

Jack, 20, is facing up to a four-year ban from the pool after testing positive to Ligandrol -- a banned synthetic drug which assists muscle growth and development -- in June.

On Friday, accompanied by her mother and lawyer, a tearful Jack met with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) in Brisbane to discuss the case and what the next steps would be.

"It's been a really long and emotional day but we've started the process, which is really great and I'm really happy with how everything is going," Jack told a large media contingent. "I'm not going to stop until I prove my innocence and fight to get myself back in the pool because that's my dream and I am never going to let that go."

Jack, a freestyle swimmer from Brisbane, refused to divulge any details on how the banned substance may have made its way into her system.

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

Jack also denied reports that Swimming Australia had told her to stay quiet about the positive result during the FINA World Championships.

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words, in this case a picture can not describe the amount of pain and vulnerability I am feeling right now. It is with great sadness and heartache that I had to leave due to allegations of having a prohibited substance in my system. I did NOT take this substance knowingly. 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. 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

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

"Swimming Australia has been nothing but supportive of me," she said. "We've been a unit through the whole process. Every decision we have made has been together and we are very happy with every decision we have made."

This was the first time Jack had appeared in public since the doping scandal broke late last month.