Ever since his eight year term as President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ended in December 2007 Dick Pound has kept a rather low profile when it comes to the media spotlight. 

That doesn’t mean, however, the Montreal tax lawyer, who was once named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential men in sport, has faded into obscurity.

Perish the thought.

“I have never had difficulty filling time,” he said this week, “because I am still here in Montreal and so is WADA I thought, for at least a year or so, I should stay right out of the doping business in order to give John Fahey a chance to establish himself in front of the whole media as the new president.

Clearly he has kept himself informed on the latest developments in the war on doping.

And he couldn’t resist the opportunity to comment on the recent announcement that some of the 1,000 blood samples collected at the Beijing Olympics will now be analysed for the presence of CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator), the new improved version of the blood boosting EPO (Erythropoietin).

“Certainly it is very encouraging and it’s a little bit like the cooperation we had back in 2002 when we were able to detect Aranesp [Darbepoetin]  with the Russian and Spanish cross-country skiers,” he says.

Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova both of Russia as well as Johann Muehlegg of Spain tested positive for the stuff thanks to WADA’s improved testing ability.

“We had started, under my presidency, to work with the ethical pharmaceutical industry,” he continues, “to say, 'Look, we understand you wouldn't want to put markers into these things because you want whatever drugs, especially ones for therapeutic purposes, to be as pure as possible.

"'But It would be very helpful for us if you would be willing to share with us information about the particular molecules so, if we are looking for them in urine and blood we know what to look for?'

"We have had a certain amount of success and cooperation with that.

"And I hope that will continue.

"The ethical pharmaceutical companies aren’t doing this to help athletes cheat.”

"You can run, but you can't hide"

Pound, a former Olympic swimmer, spares no concern for those dirty athletes who left Beijing thinking they were clear and who might now be snared by the latest testing procedures.

“That was always one of the deterrents.

"We said, ‘You can run but you can not hide.'

"We can save this stuff and within a period of eight years, if we find a test for something we couldn’t test for at the time the sample was taken at the Games, we will go back and use that result for the basis of a sanction, if we find a positive test.

"How much of a deterrent that is remains to be seen.

"All kinds of people fool themselves into thinking, ‘They will never catch me.

"'It’s not going to happen to me.’

"We will see.”

Four prominent cyclists in the 2008 Tour de France have been banned after their blood samples were subjected to re-analysis using the new testing procedure developed by the WADA accredited laboratory in Paris and found to contain the previously indectable substance.

Although he isn’t gloating Pound must feel very pleased that cheats in professional cycling are still being caught. 

After all, in March 2008 cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) filed a lawsuit against him.

They cited “continual injurious and biased comments by Mr. Pound against UCI and [former UCI President] Mr. Verbruggen in the context of the efforts made by them to eradicate doping.”

“I was only observing what 99 per cent of the world had already observed,” Pound says nonchalantly.

“They filed a complaint, we filed a response and at some point or another there will probably be a hearing in the court.

"We haven't had a hearing yet.”

WADA will pay to defend him in the legal battle and as a result of the action immediately withdrew their support for UCI’s passport program.

Pound unimpressed by Armstrong return

It’s not the first time Pound and cycling have been at odds.

Seven-time Tour de France champion, Lance Armstrong once threatened to sue Pound over his vocal support of the accusations leveled at the American that he had used EPO during his career.

“I don’t know how good your Shakespeare is,” Pound said then, “but methinks the laddie doth protest too much.”

Armstrong has recently announced plans to return to cycling and attempt an eighth Tour de France title.

On top of that he will have former Los Angeles WADA laboratory director Don Catlin take blood samples regularly and analyse them for doping. 

Pound is not impressed.

“I don’t know whether it’s real or a stunt,” he declares.

“It’s surprising that after four years being out of that circuit and being four years older you would think you could come back but maybe that’s the optimism all athletes have.

“Coming back now, and to be followed by a private physician or scientist does nothing about the previous accusations and the findings of the French lab.

"They offered him the opportunity to come in and bring his own experts.

"They said, 'We have still got some samples left.

"'Lets go through the exercise of analysing them' and he declined that.”

Churchillian approach

While he is no longer at the helm Dick Pound remains active in the war on doping.

Is it a winnable war?

“I kind of fall back on a Churchill thing,” he replies.

“It’s not the end, it‘s not the beginning of the end, it’s the end of the beginning.

"I think we’ve made tremendous amount of progress scientifically in terms of making people aware of the problem the nature of it and to some degree the extent of it.

"But I think now you’ve got move to the attitude changing phase of things and you’ve got to move to the point where there are no countries and no societies that are inaccessible to no notice out of competition tests.”

Paul Gains is a Canadian-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in Time, the New York Times, Toronto Star, GQ and  many other publications around the world. He covered the recent Beijing Olympics for CBC Television and was the athletics news editor for the 2004 Athens Olympic News Service. He will be appearing every Wednesday on insidethegames