SPAIN: DOPING - Dick Pound foresees no problem in vote for his successor at the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA)

Record ID: 334972

  • Title: SPAIN: DOPING - Dick Pound foresees no problem in vote for his successor at the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA)
  • Date: 18th November 2007
  • Summary: NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (French) OUTGOING WADA CHAIRMAN, DICK POUND, SAYING: "It's not my job to appraise the track record of my presidency - that's for the observers to evaluate. But you are well aware of the progress we've achieved worldwide in the fight against doping especially after 1998, so you can draw your own conclusions. As far as the election goes, we'll see this afternoon, around 1410, all I can say is that I expect the decision to take place smoothly."
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KEJCU9BY5383B42E5E56DNUH
  • Story Text: Outgoing WADA head Dick Pound insists the election is in no way a two-man race. He also was pleased by amendments in the new doping code which will provide tougher bans for first-time offenders and double suspensions for offenders from two to four years.
    Outgoing World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) chairman Dick Pound said on Saturday (November 17) that the election vote in Madrid, Spain, will not turn into a bitter leadership battle and that it would go ahead as planned.
    "All I can say is that I expect the decision to take place smoothly," Pound told a news conference after adopting a newly revised anti-doping code aimed at harshly punishing offenders but also offering leniency for accidental drug-taking.
    Pound's comments follow the confusion that reigned on Friday (November 16) over the vote to determine the next president of WADA after Frenchman Guy Drut said he was standing as a second candidate just hours before Saturday's decision.
    Australian John Fahey had been the sole candidate to replace outgoing head Dick Pound after the acrimonious withdrawal of Europe's choice, Jean-Francois Lamour, last month.
    Drut's move was widely seen as a last-ditch effort by Europe to get their man elected and Drut said he had been encouraged to stand by European governments to calm down what has turned into a bitter leadership battle.
    Pound rejected Drut's candidacy, saying he had missed the deadline by which it needed to be registered. The deadline was September 20.
    Pound, due to step down on December 31, accused the European bloc of trying to impose their own president after their first choice had "melted into the night."
    Former French sports minister Drut was provisionally suspended by the International Olympic Committee following a conviction on corruption charges in 2005 but was reinstated after a French presidential pardon in 2006.
    He was banned from being elected on any of the IOC commissions for five years.
    Fahey, a former Australian finance minister, has little sports management experience but has the backing of one of WADA's main stakeholders -- the IOC.
    IOC President Jacques Rogge has said Fahey should be given time to prove his capabilities.
    Controversy over Pound's succession partly overshadowed the adoption of the revised anti doping code that many sport authorities have described as an invaluable tool for the future of clean sport.
    The code aims at harshly punishing offenders but also offering leniency for accidental drug-taking and it will come into force on January 1, 2009, to allow stakeholders time to amend their own rules.
    On the sidelines of the conference, Pound depicted the code as a bold improvement.

    "I describe the code as a work in progress, it's a better work in progress than we had four years ago and we'll continue to try to make it better and more effective but I thing the work we did in the process of consultation and eventually the adoption of the new code today is a forward progress," he said.
    The United Kingdom will be the first country to apply the new code during the summer Olympic Games in London in 2012.
    Aggravating circumstances include being part of a large doping scheme, taking drugs for a long period of time or systematically taking a cocktail of banned substances.
    It also offers reduced bans for athletes offering information on drugs in the form of plea bargains.
    The maximum reduction in such cases, though, would not exceed three-quarters of the ban, WADA said.
    More leniency is given to athletes who have taken a banned substance without intent to enhance their sporting performance, who could avoid sanctions altogether.
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