Dick Pound
Encyclopedia
Richard William Duncan Pound, (born March 22, 1942) is a Canadian lawyer, partner of the law firm Stikeman Elliott
, the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) based in Montreal
, and former chancellor of McGill University
. He is a former vice-president of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC) and was a one-time candidate for the presidency of that organization.
, Canada, Pound was a swimming competitor at the 1960 Summer Olympics
. He finished sixth in the 100 metre freestyle and was also on Canada’s fourth place relay team. He would later win a number of medals at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. Retiring from swimming, he accepted a role with the Canadian Olympic Committee
and eventually became its president.
In 1978, he was elected to the International Olympic Committee and put in charge of negotiating television and sponsorship deals. Pound revolutionized the Olympic movement using such deals to transform the IOC into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. He became known as an outspoken critic of corruption within the IOC, while at the same time supporting the leadership of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch
. His criticisms were given a wide airing after the scandal
s surrounding the Salt Lake City Olympics broke, and he was then appointed head of the inquiry into the corruption. He also campaigned vehemently for stronger drug testing.
Pound has also served as Chancellor of McGill University
since July 1, 1999, and is a partner in the law firm of Stikeman Elliott LLP in Montreal. He practises tax law. He is also the author of several books on legal history. He edits Pound’s Tax Case Notes, a review of tax-law court cases for lawyers. He did much of the reading of cases and the writing of the notes on international airplane flights to and from International Olympic Committee functions.
With the retirement of Samaranch in 2001, he ran for president of the IOC, but the IOC chose Belgian Jacques Rogge
. Pound finished third behind South Korean Kim Un-Yong, who was one of those found to have participated in the Salt Lake City scandals, and who was later prosecuted by the South Korean government.
Pound scaled back his involvement with the IOC and became head of WADA. In that role he oversaw an unprecedented toughening of the drug-testing regimen. Pound was an especially harsh critic of the Americans, arguing that there is widespread doping, especially amongst their track and field
team. He also worked to expand WADA beyond the Olympics, calling on the major sports leagues to agree to WADA scrutiny. His allegations of widespread doping in professional bicycle racing
at times brought WADA into fierce public conflict with the Union Cycliste Internationale
(UCI). Pound's term as WADA president ended at the end of 2007; he chose not to run for another term.
and in 1993 was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec
.
Pound was awarded the Gold and Silver Star of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
by the government of Japan in 1998.
In 2008, he won the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award
for his work at WADA.
He is the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the Canadian Grenadier Guards (CGG).
in November 2005, Pound said, “you wouldn’t be far wrong if you said a third of hockey players are gaining some pharmaceutical assistance." Pound would later admit that he completely invented the figure. Both the NHL and NHLPA have denied the claims, demanding Pound provide evidence rather than make what they term unsubstantiated claims. Since his comments were made, some NHL players have tested positive for banned substances, including Bryan Berard
, José Théodore
, and two of 250 players involved in Olympic testing. As of June 2006, there had been 1,406 tests in the program jointly administered by the league and the union, and none has come up with banned substances under NHL rules. Pound remained skeptical, claiming the NHL rules were too lax and unclear, as they do not test for some banned substance, including certain stimulants. In an interview with hockey blogger, B. D. Gallof, of Hockeybuzz on December 19, 2007, Pound was asked to expand on the 30% comment and subsequent reaction, expounded that stimulants was "the NHL's drug of choice". He also cited that the NHL will have no credibility on a drug policy if it, and other sports, continue to run things "in-house".
quoted Pound as saying that "the public knows that the riders in the Tour de France
and the others are doping." This prompted a strongly worded rebuke from Lance Armstrong
, who called Pound's comments "careless and unacceptable." Pound said he was surprised by the personal nature of Armstrong's response because he had never mentioned the cyclist by name.
Around the same time, scientists at a French lab were using frozen urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France to find a new way of detecting erythropoietin
(EPO), an oxygen-boosting agent. The samples did not have names attached to them, only numbers, and were provided for research purposes only. But an article in the August 23, 2005 edition of L'Équipe
reported finding documentation linking the numbers with the riders, with the findings from the research with samples linked to Armstrong, claiming that six of his 15 samples showed traces of EPO. Pound told the media that there was "now an onus on Lance Armstrong and the others to explain how it is EPO got into their systems."
The Union Cycliste Internationale
launched an enquiry, led by lawyer Emile Vrijman, former head of the Netherlands’ antidoping agency (and later defense lawyer of athletes accused of doping). In his 132-page report, leaked to the media on May 31, 2006, Vrijman said no proper records were kept of the samples and that there had been no chain of custody and no process to ensure that the samples had not been spiked with banned substances at the laboratory. The report was highly critical of WADA and Pound, concluding that they had specifically targeted Armstrong and the UCI. The report also called for an investigation to "focus on the communications between Dick Pound and the
media" and recommended that no disciplinary action be taken against any athletes.
In response, Pound dismissed the Vrijman report as “so lacking in professionalism and objectivity that it borders on farcical.” WADA released an official statement, criticising the Vrijman report as biased, ill-informed, speculative, and "fallacious in many aspects."
On June 9, 2006, Armstrong sent an eight-page letter to Jacques Rogge
, president of the International Olympic Committee
, demanding that action be taken against Pound. He wrote that Pound was guilty of “reprehensible and indefensible” behaviour and "must be suspended or expelled from the Olympic movement." In February 2007, the IOC ethics committee recommended that Pound exercise greater prudence in his public pronouncements. It declined to move toward removing Pound as an IOC member, and found it had no jurisdiction over WADA. In response, Pound said he was accountable to WADA, not to the IOC.
in Turin
. Pound told reporters that blood-doping gear had been confiscated from the home of Austrian coach, Walter Mayer
, a month earlier. Mayer brought defamation charges against Pound—and against IOC president Jacques Rogge
—claiming that he had been slandered by their comments. Mayer withdrew his lawsuits in February 2007.
' testosterone test following stage 17 of the Tour of France, an event (and a stage) which Landis initially won, but of which he was stripped after failing a dope case and losing at arbitration. Pound declared "I mean, it was 11 to 1!" referring to the testosterone-to-epitestosterone level. "You’d think he’d be violating every virgin within 100 miles. How does he even get on his bicycle?"
Gary Player
went public with his views about drug taking in golf, a view endorsed by Pound.
, when asked about whether the IOC was embarrassed to be affiliated with China's recent political history, he was quoted as replying: "We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European origin, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization."
Two months later, the Aboriginal advocacy group LandInSights asked for him to be suspended from the International Olympic Committee
for the remark. Pound responded that it was a clumsy remark that was taken out of context and that in the particular French expression used, "un pays de sauvages", the French sauvages was not equivalent to English "savages".
Stikeman Elliott
Stikeman Elliott LLP is a Canadian corporate law firm. It is known as one of the "seven sisters" in Toronto and has approximately 500 lawyers in five Canadian offices as well as offices in New York, London , and Sydney. It was founded in 1952 by H...
, the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency
World Anti-Doping Agency
The World Anti-Doping Agency , , is an independent foundation created through a collective initiative led by the International Olympic Committee . It was set up on November 10, 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne", to promote, coordinate and...
(WADA) based in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, and former chancellor of McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. He is a former vice-president of the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC) and was a one-time candidate for the presidency of that organization.
Career
Born in St. Catharines, OntarioSt. Catharines, Ontario
St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in Ontario, Canada, with 97.11 square kilometres of land...
, Canada, Pound was a swimming competitor at the 1960 Summer Olympics
1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...
. He finished sixth in the 100 metre freestyle and was also on Canada’s fourth place relay team. He would later win a number of medals at the 1962 Commonwealth Games. Retiring from swimming, he accepted a role with the Canadian Olympic Committee
Canadian Olympic Committee
The Canadian Olympic Committee - COC is the private, non-profit organization representing Canadian athletes in the International Olympic Committee and the Pan American Games. It was formally recognized by the IOC in 1907. The COC also represents the selection of Canadian cities in their bid for...
and eventually became its president.
In 1978, he was elected to the International Olympic Committee and put in charge of negotiating television and sponsorship deals. Pound revolutionized the Olympic movement using such deals to transform the IOC into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. He became known as an outspoken critic of corruption within the IOC, while at the same time supporting the leadership of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Don Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquis of Samaranch, Grandee of Spain , known in Catalan as Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló , was a Catalan Spanish sports administrator who served as the seventh President of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001...
. His criticisms were given a wide airing after the scandal
2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal
The 2002 Olympic Winter Games bid scandal was a scandal involving allegations of bribery used to win the rights to host the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Prior to its successful bid in 1995, the city had attempted four times to secure the games; failing each time...
s surrounding the Salt Lake City Olympics broke, and he was then appointed head of the inquiry into the corruption. He also campaigned vehemently for stronger drug testing.
Pound has also served as Chancellor of McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
since July 1, 1999, and is a partner in the law firm of Stikeman Elliott LLP in Montreal. He practises tax law. He is also the author of several books on legal history. He edits Pound’s Tax Case Notes, a review of tax-law court cases for lawyers. He did much of the reading of cases and the writing of the notes on international airplane flights to and from International Olympic Committee functions.
With the retirement of Samaranch in 2001, he ran for president of the IOC, but the IOC chose Belgian Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
. Pound finished third behind South Korean Kim Un-Yong, who was one of those found to have participated in the Salt Lake City scandals, and who was later prosecuted by the South Korean government.
Pound scaled back his involvement with the IOC and became head of WADA. In that role he oversaw an unprecedented toughening of the drug-testing regimen. Pound was an especially harsh critic of the Americans, arguing that there is widespread doping, especially amongst their track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
team. He also worked to expand WADA beyond the Olympics, calling on the major sports leagues to agree to WADA scrutiny. His allegations of widespread doping in professional bicycle racing
Bicycle racing
Bicycle racing is a competition sport in which various types of bicycles are used. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, bike trials, and cycle speedway. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport...
at times brought WADA into fierce public conflict with the Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....
(UCI). Pound's term as WADA president ended at the end of 2007; he chose not to run for another term.
Honors
In 1992, he was made an Officer of the Order of CanadaOrder of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
and in 1993 was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
.
Pound was awarded the Gold and Silver Star of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
Order of the Sacred Treasure
The is a Japanese Order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan as the Order of Meiji. It is awarded in eight classes . It is generally awarded for long and/or meritorious service and considered to be the lowest of the Japanese orders of merit...
by the government of Japan in 1998.
In 2008, he won the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award
Laureus World Sports Awards
The Laureus World Sports Awards are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the previous year. The Laureus World Sports Awards were established in 1999 by Founding Patrons Daimler and Richemont and is supported by its Global Partners Mercedes-Benz, IWC Schaffhausen and...
for his work at WADA.
He is the Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the Canadian Grenadier Guards (CGG).
NHL
Discussing the National Hockey LeagueNational Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
in November 2005, Pound said, “you wouldn’t be far wrong if you said a third of hockey players are gaining some pharmaceutical assistance." Pound would later admit that he completely invented the figure. Both the NHL and NHLPA have denied the claims, demanding Pound provide evidence rather than make what they term unsubstantiated claims. Since his comments were made, some NHL players have tested positive for banned substances, including Bryan Berard
Bryan Berard
Bryan Wallace Berard is a former American professional ice hockey player. He was the first overall pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators. He is most noted for a debilitating eye injury he received early in his career...
, José Théodore
José Théodore
José Théodore is a French Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League...
, and two of 250 players involved in Olympic testing. As of June 2006, there had been 1,406 tests in the program jointly administered by the league and the union, and none has come up with banned substances under NHL rules. Pound remained skeptical, claiming the NHL rules were too lax and unclear, as they do not test for some banned substance, including certain stimulants. In an interview with hockey blogger, B. D. Gallof, of Hockeybuzz on December 19, 2007, Pound was asked to expand on the 30% comment and subsequent reaction, expounded that stimulants was "the NHL's drug of choice". He also cited that the NHL will have no credibility on a drug policy if it, and other sports, continue to run things "in-house".
Lance Armstrong
In January 2004, Le MondeLe Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
quoted Pound as saying that "the public knows that the riders in the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
and the others are doping." This prompted a strongly worded rebuke from Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...
, who called Pound's comments "careless and unacceptable." Pound said he was surprised by the personal nature of Armstrong's response because he had never mentioned the cyclist by name.
Around the same time, scientists at a French lab were using frozen urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France to find a new way of detecting erythropoietin
Erythropoietin
Erythropoietin, or its alternatives erythropoetin or erthropoyetin or EPO, is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production...
(EPO), an oxygen-boosting agent. The samples did not have names attached to them, only numbers, and were provided for research purposes only. But an article in the August 23, 2005 edition of L'Équipe
L'Équipe
L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...
reported finding documentation linking the numbers with the riders, with the findings from the research with samples linked to Armstrong, claiming that six of his 15 samples showed traces of EPO. Pound told the media that there was "now an onus on Lance Armstrong and the others to explain how it is EPO got into their systems."
The Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....
launched an enquiry, led by lawyer Emile Vrijman, former head of the Netherlands’ antidoping agency (and later defense lawyer of athletes accused of doping). In his 132-page report, leaked to the media on May 31, 2006, Vrijman said no proper records were kept of the samples and that there had been no chain of custody and no process to ensure that the samples had not been spiked with banned substances at the laboratory. The report was highly critical of WADA and Pound, concluding that they had specifically targeted Armstrong and the UCI. The report also called for an investigation to "focus on the communications between Dick Pound and the
media" and recommended that no disciplinary action be taken against any athletes.
In response, Pound dismissed the Vrijman report as “so lacking in professionalism and objectivity that it borders on farcical.” WADA released an official statement, criticising the Vrijman report as biased, ill-informed, speculative, and "fallacious in many aspects."
On June 9, 2006, Armstrong sent an eight-page letter to Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
, president of the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
, demanding that action be taken against Pound. He wrote that Pound was guilty of “reprehensible and indefensible” behaviour and "must be suspended or expelled from the Olympic movement." In February 2007, the IOC ethics committee recommended that Pound exercise greater prudence in his public pronouncements. It declined to move toward removing Pound as an IOC member, and found it had no jurisdiction over WADA. In response, Pound said he was accountable to WADA, not to the IOC.
Walter Mayer
Based on information supplied by WADA, Italian police raided the rooms of Austria’s cross-country and Nordic skiing team at the 2006 Winter Olympics2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
. Pound told reporters that blood-doping gear had been confiscated from the home of Austrian coach, Walter Mayer
Walter Mayer
Walter Mayer is an Austrian Cross-country skier and coach. He won the Vasaloppet in 1980, and finished second in 1992. As a coach, he was banned from the 2006 and 2010 Olympics after blood transfusion equipment was found in a house used by Austrian skiers during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt...
, a month earlier. Mayer brought defamation charges against Pound—and against IOC president Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
—claiming that he had been slandered by their comments. Mayer withdrew his lawsuits in February 2007.
Floyd Landis
In January 2007, Pound responded to Floyd LandisFloyd Landis
Floyd Landis is an American retired cyclist who after initially being awarded victory in the 2006 Tour de France was stripped of his title for a doping offense. He was an all-around rider, with special skills in climbing and time-trialing, and is also known to be a very fast descender.Landis...
' testosterone test following stage 17 of the Tour of France, an event (and a stage) which Landis initially won, but of which he was stripped after failing a dope case and losing at arbitration. Pound declared "I mean, it was 11 to 1!" referring to the testosterone-to-epitestosterone level. "You’d think he’d be violating every virgin within 100 miles. How does he even get on his bicycle?"
Golf
In July 2007 former championMen's major golf championships
The men's major golf championships, commonly known as the Major Championships, and often referred to simply as the majors, are the four most prestigious annual tournaments in professional golf...
Gary Player
Gary Player
Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
went public with his views about drug taking in golf, a view endorsed by Pound.
"Player has no particular axe to grind, other than to try and maintain the integrity of his sport. It is a wake-up call and the PGAProfessional Golfers AssociationProfessional Golfers' Association, , is the usual term for a professional association in men's golf. It is often abbreviated to PGA...
need to act now while they still have the initiative, rather than being forced into it as a result of a scandal."
First nations comment
On August 9, 2008, during a conversation in FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, when asked about whether the IOC was embarrassed to be affiliated with China's recent political history, he was quoted as replying: "We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European origin, while in China, we're talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization."
Two months later, the Aboriginal advocacy group LandInSights asked for him to be suspended from the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
for the remark. Pound responded that it was a clumsy remark that was taken out of context and that in the particular French expression used, "un pays de sauvages", the French sauvages was not equivalent to English "savages".