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Dick Pound eyeing presidency of sport arbitration court

World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound leaves the Chinese anti-doping center after a visit to Beijing last October. PHOTO: AFP

After seven years as head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Dick Pound has his eyes set on a new job in the Olympic movement.

Pound, who steps down as WADA chief in November, said on Monday he is a candidate to become the new president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest tribunal in the sports world.

Pound, a longtime lawyer and senior International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from Canada, said the CAS position would be a natural fit.

"It's closer to what I actually do for a living than anything that I've ever done for the IOC," he said. "I'd certainly be willing to do it."

The CAS post has been vacant since Senegalese judge Keba Mbaye, who had been the body's only president since its creation in 1984, died on Jan. 11 at age 82.

President of WADA since its inception in late 1999, Pound has won admirers for his aggressive, tough-talking stance against doping in sports. But he has also drawn fire from critics who accuse him of prejudging cases and smearing athletes without proof.

Pound said he first discussed the possibility of becoming CAS president after leaving WADA with IOC president Jacques Rogge late last year.

"After Keba Mbaye died, the thing accelerated," he said. "It became more real than theoretical. One way or the other I'm sure they'll find something for me."

Pound said, if appointed, he could take over "reasonably soon" during the final months of his WADA mandate.

Pound has been a lawyer since 1968, serving in various fields, including arbitration. He is a tax litigation specialist with Montreal-based law firm Stikeman Elliott.

"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."

Rogge told the French sports daily L'Equipe on Monday that the IOC has "several candidates, including Dick Pound," for the CAS job. He didn't identify the others.

Rogge said he would confer with the IOC executive board, which next meets in Beijing on April 25-27, and propose a candidate to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, which oversees CAS.

Pound said it's possible the IOC could nominate someone from outside the organization to try to make CAS as independent as possible.

CAS, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, appoints arbitrators to rule on sports disputes, including doping cases. The organization has nearly 300 arbitrators from 87 countries and handles about 200 cases a year. During the Olympics, CAS sets up a special panel to rule on disputes within 24 hours.

The president of CAS is a type of chief executive officer who oversees day-to-day operations and the assignment of arbitrators. The president does not have to be based in Lausanne and Pound said, if appointed, he would continue to live in Montreal.

Pound would recuse himself from any cases that came to CAS after being handled under his watch at WADA.

"If there is a case that predates my appointment, I should play no part in the outcome of the proceedings," he said. "That's standard."

Pound's WADA term expires at the world anti-doping conference in Madrid in November. French sports minister Jean-Francois Lamour is the leading candidate to replace him.
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