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Selection of Pound successor still uncertain

Published: Nov. 16, 2007
The man who might be king. European sports ministers nominated Guy Drut to replace Dick Pound.
The man who might be king. European sports ministers nominated Guy Drut to replace Dick Pound.
Photo: Agence France Presse (file photo)

Dick Pound says only one thing is certain about the presidency of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

“My term ends at midnight on December 31, 2007,” the current WADA president said during the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport in Madrid this week. “Beyond that, I’m not sure what is happening. “

European governments on Friday nominated former French Sports Minister Guy Drut as a candidate to stand in opposition to Australian finance minister John Fahey to fill the post. Until two months ago, neither man was being considered for the position, which most observers said would go to Jean-Francois Lamour, who also once held the post of France's Sports Minister.

The WADA vice president was the pick of European Union sports ministers and was all but assured of the spot, with the agency presidency rotating between the two prongs of WADA governance, the IOC and world governments.

But in September, Fahey’s name was put forward by a consortium of non-EU members and, inexplicably, in October Lamour withdrew his name from consideration, resigned his WADA post and began to criticize the handling of the affair and the management of the agency.

Fahey remained the sole candidate to fill the spot as this week’s conference began on Thursday, but late Friday EU Sports ministers nominated Drut as a last-minute challenger for the post.

Standing in the marble lobby of Madrid’s Palacio de Congresos, UCI president Pat McQuaid quipped “it looks like the election is already over,” as Drut, a former Olympic hurdler, who won the 110-meter hurdles in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, entered the building surrounded by dozens of television cameras and reporters.

“Actually at this point, I have no idea what is going on,” McQuaid said. “This morning it was Fahey… then there was a rumor that there would be no election, then that the European governments were going to ask for a six-month delay and now this.

“It’s a pity that it’s come to this,” he added. “This should have all been settled before the start of the conference and now we have this. It’s unfortunate that Lamour pulled out as he did. It is a democracy and he should have been fine with that. He’s to blame for what happened here.”

That view was echoed by Pound at a press conference Friday evening. The outgoing WADA president faulted Lamour and the EU ministers for the current confusion.

“The Europeans had a candidate,” Pound said. “He, without explaining why to anyone, decided to pull out of the race after the nomination process had run its course.”

Pound said that the EU’s submission of Drut’s name was too late to make a difference.

“The nomination was closed on September 20,” Pound said. “End of story.”

“They (the Europeans) have behaved quite improperly in this,” Pound said. “It’s not been appropriate in our view, it’s not done the organization any good and it’s certainly not done the Europeans any good. The rest of the world is… is puzzled.”

Ultimately, it won’t be Pound’s or the EU’s call, though. The board of directors of the WADA Foundation will make a decision, behind closed doors, on Saturday afternoon. Pound defended the decision to close that part of the meeting.

“Well I assume that (the board) expect that may be some emotional discussion and they probably feel that it would be best not to have that aired in public,” Pound said. “We’ll come to a decision, which will be the leadership of WADA going forward.”

The air of uncertainty will continue at least until Saturday when the board of directors of the WADA Foundation will vote whether to approve revisions to the World Anti-Doping Code and then retire to a closed session to select a new president… or not.