Swimming Australia is standing by banned athlete Shayna Jack as she faces abuse for her failed drug test.
SA chief executive Leigh Russell said Jack's situation was "quite different" from that of China's swimmer Sun Yang, who competed after being cleared of wrongdoing following a random drug test last September.
"I think the two are quite different actually. Mack's protest was about an athlete who is going through a process that was still able to complete at the world championships.
"Our process in Australia is simply that once we have been notified that an athlete has had an adverse test finding, our job is then to remove them immediately from the team environment so they're not able to compete."
The World Anti-Doping Agency is currently appealing the decision to allow Yang to compete but competitors are taking the matters into their own hands with Aussie swimmer Mack Horton refusing to stand on the podium with the Chinese star at the World Champs.
Away from the rivalry and controversies, Swimming Australia head coach Jacco Verhaeren said Jack can bounce back and save her career.
"Yes definitely (she can come back from this)," said Verhaeren, on arrival in Brisbane from the world swimming championships in South Korea.
"There are cases where the athlete's name is cleared, and it was all a mistake or contamination or whatever it was. And sure they come back from that."
Jack tested positive for the non-steroidal anabolic agent Ligandrol and must now state her case to ASADA.
Jack's coach Dean Boxall says he doesn't know how it happened but is standing by the 20-year-old as she tries to salvage her career.
"I stand by her," said Boxall, adding he didn't think the positive test overshadowed Australia's performance in Gwangju or affected the morale of her teammates.
"She's my swimmer and I believe in Shayna."
Boxall said he believed that the decision to withhold the information of Jack's positive test from the Australian swim team was the right one.
- AAP contributed to this report
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