I just read on ESPN.com that Dick Pound is a candidate to become the new president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. His position as the head of WADA will end this year. This has to be about the worst case scenario of any athlete that cares about fairness in the the whole doping mess that currently exists in cycling and all Olympic sports.
Pound says he could take over reasonably soon. Can you imagine if Dick Pound was a judge in the upcoming arbitration hearing of Floyd Landis after some of the outrageous comments Pound has made about Landis? If you recall here are some of the things Pound has said about Landis’ ride on stage 17 of the Tour de France …
“He was 11 minutes behind, and all of a sudden there’s this Herculean effort, where he’s going up mountains like he’s on a goddam Harley.”
… and refering to Landis’s epitestosterone to testosterone ratio …
“You’d think he’d be violating every virgin within 100 miles. How does he even get on his bicycle?”
Landis claims that his actual testosterone level was normal. Dick Pound is about the worst person I can think of to be heading up an organization that needs to look at the evidence and be impartial. Pound thinks he would be perfect for the job …
“I think I’m of the few practicing lawyers in the IOC these days who actually get up in court,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s a natural progression. You go from being a lawyer to being a judge.”
Pound has played the role of the bad cop at WADA. His goal has been to accuse and make unfounded accusation and let the CAS sort it out. Now he want to be the judge? I think that would be a total disaster. What do you think? Leave your comments.
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I was shocked and apalled to hear of the news of Dick Pound’s nomination to CAS. Frankly, I don’t think it will ever become a reality. Dick Pound has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is totally incapable of unbiased judgement, fairness, objectivity, and plain old decency. Some of the comments directed toward Floyd Landis are downright unprofessional and are clear indicators of his way of thinking. He seems to enjoy sensationalism at any cost. He has exposed the world to a pattern of thinking that doesn’t belong anywhere near an organization like CAS. CAS is expected to bring calm wisdom and absolute truth to proceedings that have otherwise failed to do so. It is unimaginable that based on Dick Pound’s recent unrestrained public behavior and outrageous statements about the current situation in professional cycling that he can even be considered a candidate to head CAS. Again, I don’t think it will ever become a reality, however, in view of other recent developments brought to public view concerning USADA and UCI, I’m hopeful the sporting world will become better organized to foster an environment of fair treatment to those that drive the sporting world…the athletes themselves.