(Or, My emails with [censored] Pound)
Back when this whole L'Equipe [censored] came out, and Pound was spewing
inappropriate statements to the press day after day, I decided to try
and write to the WADA board to express my disdain for how Pound was
destroying the credibility of the organization (and the whole anti-dope
movement). Before I could do that, I needed to know *how* to contact
members of the board. So I contacted WADA's PR dept and was quickly
turned away, the PR staff stated that [censored] Pound himself would have to
give permission for them to release this info (and that he had just
rejected my request).
I later googled around, and found the email address of one board
member, (an American attorney, Richard Young) in addition to Pound's
email at his law firm. Pound already knew who I was (from my uncommon
request at WADA). I received an odd email from Pound after I tried
contacting Mr Young, and we began a strange email conversation. Pound
was crude, rude, and very candid in his belief that Armstrong must be
guilty. When I pointed out that what the anti-doping movement needed
was credibility, and at least the appearance of objectivity on the part
of WADA, he would predict that "when this all concludes, I predict I
won't be hearing from you anymore". He was obviously of the opinion
that Armstrong was 100% guilty.
Pound (for some reason) despite his belief in his own personal
righteousness, blocked every attempt at my writing to mebers of the
WADA board. When I figured out the email address naming convention for
WADA, and sent-off my letter anyway, the WADA email server had already
been configured to intercept anything with my IP address on it. All the
emails were blocked. Right afterwards, I heard from Pound, writing
back, wondering why "I was afraid to ask the real questions" regarding
Armstrong.
It became very obvious that Pound is not just chairman of a supposedly
"independent" organization. He controls that organization AND its
board. He does not simply report TO the organization. WADA is
effectively omnipotent. If WADA were to be out of control, there would
be no way to bring them back into-check.
I decided to hang-on to my numerous email exchanges with Mr. Young and
[censored] Pound. Might prove useful someday if anyone were to ever mount a
realistic, direct challenge to Pound's authority. I was actually
surprised to see Armstrong as the guy who mounted that challenge.
Oddly enough, it was my interest in seeing Armstrong someday exposed
(and sanctioned) that made me come to realize that Pound was eroding
any possibility of that ever happening. He never knew when to sit back
and let "the process" work itself out. He was always right out there
destroying the credibility of the organization with his huge mouth.
Yes, I personally think Armstrong is "Le Dopee Supreme". And it is
ironic that Armstrong is perhaps the only one with enough clout and
credibility in the world of sport to bring this attention to Pound. But
I'm willing to ride that train, if it is the only train with enough
weight to get the right people at the IOC to listen.
So after the UCI report, the WADA response, and Armstrong's letters...I
made contact with Bill Stapleton two days ago. I turned over some juicy
emails, complete with Pound's quotes that members of the IOC will
likely be very interested in reading.
We deserve to have a WADA-like organization, but when the organization
becomes synonymous with the obviously biased, hot-headed, unrestrained
[censored] Pound, we need to see him go, and NOW. Perhaps that means
severing ties with WADA, and starting all over again. Who knows what
kind of personal financial interest that Pound might have with WADA.
If he is unwilling to weather basic criticism from some schmo in the
USA (me), then I figure that the WADA onion must have many layers to
peel-back.
Enjoy the ride. It's going to get bumpy/