Be afraid, be very afraid
Dick Pound warns dopers that their time's almost up
By ROB LONGLEY, TORONTO SUN
Towards the end of an at-times ranting chapter in his new book, Canadian Dick Pound offers a stern warning to would-be cheats. "They may run, for awhile, but they can no longer hide," the Montreal lawyer and long-time International Olympic Committee member writes in Inside the Olympics.
As the plotlines to a real-life story, you get an impression that won't go away, some high-profile U.S. track athletes indeed seem to be running for cover.
News this week that world-record holder Tim Montgomery and three others were cited for drug violations by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has widened the web.
While in London, Ont. to accept an honourary degree from the University of Western Ontario on Friday, Pound got more specific in his views. As the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Pound doesn't have to be as delicate as he was when he was an IOC executive and let fly.
"Clearly with Montgomery, the investigators say they have enough evidence," Pound told Sun Media's Jim Kernaghan. "In typical American fashion (the investigators) circle around and get the small fish and close in on the big ones. Marion Jones is clearly a target."
Jones, of course, is the boyfriend of sprinter Montgomery. Neither have tested positive for any illegal substance but both have testified in the ongoing saga of California-based drugmaker, Balco.
The biggest drug scandal to hit U.S. sports has alleged that Balco owner Victor Conte Jr. supplied the designer steroid THG to 27 athletes including a dozen U.S. track stars.
Pound has been so strong in his anti-doping stance that he has been branded as anti-American in some spots.
That the USADA has joined the chase is starting to validate that position, while making it seem as though Americans just may be willing to sacrifice Athens medals as the price for a squeaky clean Games.
The more birds that investigators get into the nest, the more likely one of them will sing like a canary.
All along, Jones and her lawyer have been adamant that since she has yet to test positive, she can't be denied a trip to Athens. The USADA and WADA have been equally adamant that clean tests aren't necessarily enough.
"What they're trying to say is, 'The only way to get me is if you get a sample from me that tests positive,' " Pound said.
"We're saying, 'Nonsense, that's just evidence of one sort.' "
The sharks may or may not be circling around Jones, but the fact that her ex-husband, C.J. Hunter, has started to talk this week has heightened the scrutiny. Hunter, a shot putter who tested positive at the Sydney Games and Jones, a five-time medal winner in Sydney, divorced three years ago.
"Once I found out what my ex-husband did or was alleged to have done, I parted ways," Jones said during her press conference at a meet in the Czech Republic this past week.
Jones went one step further, offering to turn over the statements she made during grand jury testimony in the Balco case to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
Jones and others clearly want closure, especially with the U.S. Olympic qualifiers in California less than a month away and the Games themselves a month after that.
Pound, meanwhile, hopes the message is finally getting through.
"There are coaches and athletes and scientists out there who are sociopaths who don't care about rules," Pound said in London, not naming names. "But as soon as we get a sample of the stuff, a test can be developed within weeks and that drug is finished."
