Lance Armstrong wrote a letter to the IOC calling on them to suspend or remove Dick Pound, parts of which were leaked to the Los Angelos Times. Armstrong then decided to openly publish his letter on his website (registration required): The Pace Line.com. In the 8 page letter, Armstrong details the specific transgressions by Dick Pound during this latest scandal, as well as mentioning and alluding to other ethical violations committed by him in the past.
The conduct that occurred in this case, and what I endured, should never have happened and steps must be taken to ensure that it never happens again and that there are meaningful protections of athletes rights. I have been vindicated, but unless something is done other athletes will be victimized in the future. Therefore, on June 9, 2006, I sent the attached letter to IOC President Jacques Rogge and the IOC Executive Committee, requesting that they take the steps necessary to protect athletes and the international Olympic movement. If the rules of the Olympic movement are to have any meaning at all, they must be enforced, not just against athletes, but against sports officials and anti-doping officials when they violate the rules. The facts revealed in the independent investigator’s report show a pattern of intentional misconduct by WADA officials designed to attack anyone who challenges them, followed by a cover-up to conceal their wrongdoing. This conduct by Pound is just the latest in a long history of ethical transgressions and violations of athletes’ right by Mr. Pound.
Lance Armstrong’s stance reminds me a lot of Steve Prefontaine’s fight against the Amateur Athletic Union in the mid-1970s. I think that he is correct and that officials should be held to the same standards as athletes. I am interested in seeing the response from the IOC. I do not really expect anything to happen to Dick Pound, though; he’s too entrenched and knows all the right strings to pull to do whatever he wants.
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