Emotional Shayna Jack Reveals She Will Make Her Farewell to Pool After Glasgow Commonwealth Games
Australian swimming golden girl Shayna Jack has revealed today in an emotional video that she will bid farewell to the pool after this month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, retiring from the sport she has loved.
The 27-year-old declared she is ready to start her next chapter “as Shayna Jack,” making the reveal on a heartfelt, emotional Instagram video post. Jack did it her way from the Australian Team camp in Germany and with her coach Dean Boxall – the man who stood by his brave champion freestyler through her darkest times.
Jack will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle at the Commonwealth Games and is looking forward to saying goodbye to the Australian community in Glasgow.
“I didn’t want to come home, and just post about it afterwards. I want to be able to physically, emotionally and wholly say goodbye in the moment,’’ she said.
In an announcement posted to social media, Jack – alongside her long-term coach Boxall – said the decision was one she had “thought long and hard about.”
“I wanted you all to hear it from me first, going out with my head held high & a smile on my face,’’ she wrote on Instagram.
Boxall told Jack she had been an “unbelievable’’ athlete, who had given her heart and soul.
“You’re the most resilient athlete I’ve ever come across,’’ he tells her in the video.
Jack, in tears during the video, paid tribute to Boxall, saying he had been there for her throughout her career.
She said she was proud of what she was saying goodbye to and was walking away from the sport with a smile on her face.
She had fought long and hard to clear her name from a controversial positive doping violation in 2019 after the performance-enhancing drug Ligandrol was found in her system before the Gwangju World Championships.
YEAH BABY: Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack of Australia celebrate after winning the gold medal in the swimming 4x100m Freestyle Relay Women Final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Defense Arena in Paris (France), July 27, 2024. Courtesy: DeepBlueMedia
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA)/Sport Integrity Australia (SIA), imposed a four-year ban, but the sprinter took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the top court in global sport halved it, having determined she had not knowingly ingested the drug.
ASADA and WADA appealed the CAS decision but the challenge was dismissed.
The Queenslander has always maintained she did not knowingly ingest the drug and has been open about the devastating impact the saga has had on her life, revealing it left her contemplating suicide.
Jack declared today: “On the eve of my third Commonwealth Games, I’ve made a decision I’ve thought long and hard about.
“I wanted you all to hear it from me first, going out with my head held high & a smile on my face,” a tearful Jack revealed to her followers.
“It’s been an absolute privilege being an Australian athlete, an Australian swimmer, an Olympic medallist, Commonwealth Games medallist, world medallist, and world record holder.
“I think I’ve definitely ticked off all the boxes. It’s been a long career, but I’m ready to announce my retirement and just be Shayna Jack.”
In the video, Boxall asks if there was any way she would change her mind, with an adamant Jack replying…“No, no!!”
Jack said she wanted to bare her heart to Australia, to everybody who she has represented over the years, and to all the people who have supported her and been part of her journey.
OLYMPIC GOLDEN GIRLS: Australia 400 freestyle relay – Shayna Jack, Mollie O’Callaghan, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris PARIS 2024. Courtesy: DeepBlueMedia
“I wanted to be honest. When I was deciding when and how I was going to do this, I thought of you, Dean, and doing it before the Commonwealth Games,” said Jack.
“Because I want to go out there with my head held high, proud of who I am, proud of what I’m representing, and proud of what I’m saying goodbye to.
“I want to give the people an opportunity to be proud of me, and I want to feel that. I want to feel like I had an impact.
“I do. I do feel fulfilled. I’m really proud of what swimming made me. That’s what I’m proud of.
“I’m not just proud of the medals or the world records. That’s never what I swam for. I swam because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be someone that people looked up to.”
Boxall offered heartfelt words and towering praise, saying: “You’ve been unbelievable.
“You have given your heart and soul to people, and you’ve always been about behaviours.
“Yes, you have words, Shayna, and they’re very good, but you have always backed them up with behaviour.
“I think you are the most resilient athlete I’ve ever come across.”
ALL IN THE FAMILY, Jamie and Shayna Jack at the 2024 QLD Championships Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan.
Her younger brother Jamie Jack will realise a long-held dream when they compete on a Dolphins team together for the first time in Glasgow – Jamie in the 50 freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay.
“Proud of you,” her brother commented on her Instagram post.
Former training partner and Olympic champion and fellow 4x200m freestyle relay gold medallist, Ariarne Titmus wrote: “Lots of love on a big day. You have so much to be proud of.”
Another teammate, training partner and Olympic champion, Mollie O’Callaghan, said: “Proud of you. What an incredible career you’ve had. I’m going to miss seeing you on pool deck and training with you, but I’m so excited to see what you do next. Wishing you all the best for this new chapter.”
The Commonwealth Games begin in Glasgow on July 23 with Jack a key member of the world beating Australian women’s freestyle group in the 50 and 100m freestyle and the all-conquering 4x100m freestyle relay team.
The Australian won gold medals in the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and also won 17 world championship medals across her decorated career, including a silver in the 50m freestyle in Japan in 2023 and a bronze in the 100m freestyle in Qatar in 2024.
Jack has also told the Courier Mail’s QMagazine in an exclusive interview that while retiring from swimming is a scary step, “it also feels like I now have much more ambition outside of the pool than what I do in it’.’
“So it’s time,’’ she said.
“It was both exciting and nerve-racking to make this decision, but now, having made it, what I feel now is happiness.’’
HOW SWEET IT IS: Shayna Jack wins the 50m freestyle at the Queensland Championships. Photo Wade Brennan Photography.
Jack, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, revealed the horrendous toll a 2019 doping ban took on her mental health. She had to fight to prove her innocence and says the experience was traumatising.
“It does still affect me, and that’s something that I also considered with this decision,” Jack said.
“I put a bit of a box around it while I was competing, and thought, ‘I’ll work through that later,’ because I honestly do think if I opened up that box during my career, I would not have gotten back in the water.”
She credits fiancé Joel Rintala with getting her through her darkest moments, and says the couple are looking forward to a wedding this year and a family one day.
“We met when we were so young, 10 years ago, so we’ve grown up together and we just can’t wait for this new chapter in our lives,’’ she said.
“My big dream is to become a mum one day, it’s very important to me.
“It also is a part of my decision to retire, because I also want to give my body more rest, and not keep putting myself in high-stress situations.’’
PARIS DREAM: Shayna Jack Qualifies for for first Olympics Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)
