Richard Pound reached the mandatory retirement age for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March, i.e., 80 years. So it will bend by the end of 2022.
The Canadian will be a member of the IOC for 44 years. He is now the dean, as President Thomas Bach likes to call him.
IOC members elected after 1999 must retire at age 70.
The Montreal lawyer is not leaving the organization for all that. As an honorary member, he will be invited to meetings and Olympic Games, but he no longer has the right to vote.
The CIO invites you, but you are no longer working there, you have no other responsibility but to give your perspective that no one will listen to.he laughed as he explained to The Canadian Press.
The former swimmer dived in the 100m freestyle final of the 1960 Games in Rome. He was a law student at McGill.
He became a member of the IOC in 1978 and first spoke on television rights in the 1980s, which allowed the IOC to have financial independence, before tackling doping in the 1990s by becoming the first president of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999.
I work fast, I’m pretty good at writing, I can write a contract with a blank page, not all lawyers are provided, he mentions. I’m not the friendliest person around, and I’m not interested in pointless or thoughtless discussions.
His straightforward and direct comments led him to the presidency of the IOC in 2001.
He just cleaned up the organization after the corruption scandal surrounding the awarding of the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
We like clean organizations, but we prefer cleanershe says.
He faced the problem of doping.
As an athlete, we accept that there are those who are stronger than us, but should not be defeated by deception. This is what surprised me the most about dopingsaid the lawyer.
His criticism of doping in professional cycling prompted American Lance Armstrong to request in 2006 that Richard Pound be sanctioned by the IOC before admitting in 2013 that he himself had used prohibited substances.
We make sure athletes understand very quickly that one day or another, they will be caughtHe added.
At the 139th working session at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne on May 20, Thomas Bach praised Richard Pound’s work.
He praised the former Olympic swimmer for him determination and his frank and direct approach and said for him a endless sources of inspiration.
You have been criticized for your occasional sudden way of doing things, but your dedication to the IOC has never been in doubt and you have always been a strength.he said.
Upon Richard Pound’s retirement, Tricia Smith, President of the Canadian Olympic Committee, was the only serving Canadian member of the IOC.
The more radical the world becomes, the harder it will be to hold on to your principles, but if you don’t, you’re dead.Richard Pound told IOC members.
Source: Radio-Canada
