Dick Pound - Career

Career

Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, 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 scandals 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.