Yale to Host Leader in Fight Against "Doping" in Sports

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Richard Pound will be the first Chubb Fellow of the 2004-05 academic year at Yale, speaking on “Ethical Issues and the Olympics” in the British Art Center Auditorium, 1080 Chapel Street, at 4:30 p.m. on September 14.

Sports commentators Christine Brennan and Frank DeFord and sports consultant Michael Harrigan will respond to Pound’s remarks in a panel discussion. A reception will follow in the British Art Center.

A former Olympic swimmer, Pound is the Chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. A member of the International Olympic Committee since 1978, he has been largely responsible for the financial growth of the Olympics through television rights and sponsorship negotiations. His investigation of the Salt Lake City scandal led to the creation of a new ethics watchdog to monitor interaction between bidding cities and IOC members. Pound heads the Olympic Games Study Commission, which decides the scope of future Olympic games.

Pound is the chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency, established in 1999 to coordinate the international fight against doping in sport by persuading every sport, government and international governing body to adopt an anti-doping code. The agency oversees doping tests at the Olympic Games and other sports events.

“In the end, our aim is not just to catch a few athletes who have taken performance-enhancing drugs,” Pound says. “Rather, we have to change the mind-set, make athletes realize that taking drugs is wrong and dangerous for their health.” Last year, the International Olympic Committee adopted the agency’s code, requiring every sport to agree or to be excluded from the Athens games.

Pound was Canada’s top freestyle sprinter in international competitions from 1959 to 1962. At the 1960 Olympic games in Rome, he finished fourth in the 400-meter medley relay and sixth in the 100-meter freestyle. He won four medals-a gold, a bronze and two silvers-at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Pound is author of two books: “Five Rings over Korea” and “Inside the Olympics, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Politics, the Scandals, and the Glory of the Games.” A practicing attorney and accountant, he was appointed the 17th chancellor of McGill University in 1999.

Discussion moderator Michael Harrigan, a sports business consultant, has been a key figure in the organization and strategy of the U.S. Olympic movement since 1972 and was the power behind the Amateur Sports Act, the law governing U.S. Olympic sport. His clients have included the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Committee and over 25 national sports governing bodies.

Sports journalist Christine Brennan is a USA Today columnist, television sports analyst, author of two best-selling books on figure skating, and a leading voice on the Olympics and other sports issues.

Frank DeFord is the senior writer at Sports Illustrated and a regular commentator on National Public Radio. A six-time U.S. Sportswriter of the Year, he is a member of the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters.

The Chubb Fellowship is devoted to encouraging and aiding Yale students interested in the operations of government, culture and public service. Established in 1936 through the generosity of Hendon Chubb (Yale 1895), the program is based in Timothy Dwight College. Each year three or four distinguished women and men have been appointed as visiting Chubb Fellows. While at Yale, they have close, informal contact with students and deliver a public lecture. Former Chubb Fellows include Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter; prime ministers Clement Atlee and Mario Soares; authors Toni Morrison and Carlos Fuentes; choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov; and journalist Walter Cronkite.