When Dick Pound was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world following the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, the American news magazine said the founder of the World Anti-Doping Agency was “the prime mover in freeing the Olympic world from the taint of illicit, performance-enhancing drugs.”
A partner in the Montréal office of Stikeman Elliott and member of the firm’s Tax Group, the former vice-president of the International Olympic Committee will deliver the address, “When is Sport no Longer Sport?” at The University of Western Ontario on Monday (Nov. 1) at 12:30 p.m. The event is part of the Western Law Distinguished Speaker Series and will be presented in the Moot Court Room.
“This is a fabulous opportunity for the Western and London communities to hear from a person who has played such a key role in international sport over the past 50 years,” says Richard McLaren, a Western Law professor and five-time Olympic arbitrator. “As the driving force behind the creation and subsequent administration of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound is known worldwide for his advocacy against doping. He also fundamentally transformed the Olympic games by founding and developing its broadcast and marketing rights.”
Pound has been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for more than 25 years and has served as a member of the IOC Executive Board, vice-president, and acting president. He was also Chairman of the IOC Television Negotiation Committee from 1983 to 2001 and Chairman of the IOC Marketing Committee until 2001, in the process making the IOC one of the most successful sport organizations in the world.
Born in St. Catharines in 1942, Pound began his athletic career as a competitive swimmer. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, he was a double Olympic finalist, finishing fourth in the 400-metre medley relay and sixth in the 100-metre freestyle. He went on to win four medals (one gold medal, one bronze, and two silvers) at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Pound was educated in Montreal, receiving degrees in commerce and law from McGill University. In 1999, he was made the 17th chancellor of McGill.