Shayna Jack is INNOCENT - anti-doping boss who caught disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong believes banned Australian swimmer did not cheat

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A world leading anti-doping chief who busted disgraced US cyclist Lance Armstrong believes Australian swimmer Shayna Jack isn't a drug cheat as the desperate fight to clear her name continues.

The World Championships and Commonwealth Games medallist was one of the rising stars of the pool until her world came crashing down in 2019 when she tested positive to banned muscle-builder Ligandrol during a routine drug test.

The Queenslander, 22, appealed her four year ban and had it halved after the Court of Arbitration found that she did not knowingly ingest the prohibited substance.

But the battle to prove her innocence continues after Sport Integrity Australia and World Anti-Doping Association appealed the revised two-year ban.

The case has sparked widespread debate about world anti-doping rules where Jack  has support from an unlikely corner.

Travis Tygart, the US Anti-Doping Agency boss who brought down the seven-time Tour De France cycling champion Armstrong, has publicly leapt to Jack's defence.

He has spoken out against the 'inherently unjust system' that treats all athletes as intentional drug cheats.

Swimmer Shayna Jack (pictured) was an Olympic hopeful for Tokyo before she tested to banned substance Ligandrol in 2019. She insists she didn't take the drug intentionally

He believes doping rules aren't in line with technological advancements which are now picking up tiny traces of banned substances such as Ligandrol.

'We've had dozens of cases where athletes are dealing with low level positives caused by meat contamination or intimacy with a partner, multivitamin or mineral or supplement contamination,' Mr Tygart told ABC's Australian Story.

'We have one scoop of a protein powder or a powder be contaminated, the next not be contaminated.' 

'It's the rules that have to be changed to be more fair.' 

Jack has broken her silence on her ongoing two-and-a-half-year nightmare ordeal to the program about her personal fight against 'an archaic, unjust and punitive system'. 

Her reputation in tatters, she's unable to train with her teammates or have a registered coach.

She insists that she didn't take drugs intentionally.

'I was kind of naive in a way thinking people would believe me. I was very wrong,' Jack said in a preview for Monday night's episode.

'One day I was an elite athlete and the next day, everything that I knew had just been taken away from me in one moment.' 

Shayna Jack (pictured with her silver medal from the 2017 world titles) has broken her silencer over the  'archaic, unjust and punitive system' which saw her banned for two years

US Anti-Doping Agency boss Travis Tygart (pictured) believes Shayna Jack is innocent

Jack said she 'may never know for sure' how she ingested the banned substance but has narrowed it down to several possibilities.

One is that she used a contaminated blender used by her boyfriend or brothers.

Another possibility is that it could have been in supplements she was taking were contaminated or came into contact with the banned substance while using a public pool or gym in Queensland while training for the 2019 world titles.

'I don't know where the Ligandrol came into contact with me,' Jack insists.

'I'm never going to know, which will always haunt me and always scare me.'

'I had no idea what it was and had never heard of it.' 

'If something is in your body, it's your fault. I had to fight for my career.

'I don't want other athletes to have to go through what I've been through. One day someone's not going to get through it.' 

Her mum Pauline recalled the heavy toll the high-profile saga has had on her daughter.

'We were very worried about her mental state,' she said.

Shayna Jack (pictured right)has broken her silence on her nightmare ordeal

Swimming champion Cate Campbell also spoke out in support of her former teammate.

'I've been very upset by this whole thing, by the fact that it could have possibly been me, how Shayna has been treated,' she said.

"If you're competing under this threat of if a minor trace of a substance gets in your system and this is how you're going to be treated, it's not a good message to be sending to our young people.

"That's not about protecting athletes."

Jack decided to share her story to 'stand up for what's right in sport'.

'My fight is not just for me though – it is for all the athletes who inevitably are exposed to this system and it is also about standing up for what is right in sport,' she posted on Instagram on Thursday night.

'My story tells the public about how an indefensible system punishes athletes in the most punitive way for providing an unintentional positive test. I want to thank 'everyone who has continued to support me throughout this fight!'

Leigh Russell was Swimming Australia boss when Jack was sent home in disgrace from the 2019 World Championships in South Korea after the results of her sample from a competition in Cairns weeks earlier came back positive.

'Very quickly it turned into absolute hysteria and it was a real lynch mob,' she recalled. 

Shayna Jack's mum Pauline (right) told the program she was concerned for her daughter's mental state during the ordeal.

Shayna Jack (far left) and her teammates won gold in the 100m Freestyle Relay Final at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.  Cate Campbell (far right) has spoken out in support of her teammate

The court's sole arbitrator Alan Sullivan QC applauded Jack's refusal to blame anyone else for the fact she had tested positive.

'Even though it would have perhaps suited her case to blame others, she refused to attribute such blame,' the court heard.

'She appeared to be completely straightforward, genuine and honest in the answers she gave.

'Her demeanour was excellent and her dismay at the situation she found herself in was evident. She became emotional at times in giving her evidence, but not inappropriately or theatrically so.'

Jack and her family have already spent $130,000 of their life savings trying to clear her name

A GoFundMe has been set up to help fight the latest appeal.

''If she cannot pay the court costs associated with this new case within the given time, the appeal will be considered abandoned, and a maximum penalty may apply,' the page states.

'Shayna nor her family no longer have the funds to continue the fight. 

'Her sport of swimming, which she's dedicated her life to, are prevented by rules that do not allow them to assist in any financial way. This leaves Shayna having to fight these funded sporting authorities on her own.  

'This fight is not just about Shayna. This is about standing up for what is right and the future of integrity in sport.'

Jack is currently eligible to return to competitive swimming in July 2021 but will be unable to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

Former NRL journeyman James Segeyaro tested positive to the same banned substance as Ms Jack in October 2019. He is still fighting to clear his name.

Fellow NRL star Michael Jennings was provisionally stood down last month after the 32-year-old tested positive to both Ligandrol and Ibutamoren on September 21.

Once a rising star of the pool, Shayna Jack's reputation is now in tatters. She's pictured after winning gold at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games