Exit Interview

Recently, Pippa Wysong of Medscape, an online medical journal [requires registration], sat down with out-going WADA President, Dick Pound, to get his take on the recent Major League Baseball steroids controversy and other key issues swirling around the shadow landscape of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

A few excerpts from the interview are below. Interestingly, it was the first time I have ever heard [or seen] any movement on Pound's usually stalwart position on testing, where in cases against Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, the tests were seemingly non-disputable [and nearly infallible].

Medscape: Now that your term, or I guess I should say your terms with WADA are up, can you look back and describe what you feel you and WADA accomplished during your time there?

Mr. Pound: When we started, there was nothing to deal effectively with doping in international sports. No one trusted the IOC, no one trusted cycling and the other sports to police their own sports. No one trusted countries to deal with their own athletes, which was why an independent international agency was required.

So, we, meaning some people from the IOC and I, did a variety of things to address this lack of trust, and to get a trustworthy system into place to really get at what was going on. And, of course, to do testing. We got an agency (WADA) established and up and running. We managed to get it financed by the sports movement and governments on a 50-50 basis. We developed and adopted a single set of rules (the World Anti-Doping Code) for all athletes, all sports, and all countries. Over time, those rules were adopted by the entire Olympic movement -- and others too. We even helped with the negotiations for an international convention signed by 191 countries in what I think was world record time -- that's a lot of cooperation by a lot of different people and organizations. It was quite satisfying to get that far. While I was at WADA, we also agreed upon a single dispute resolution process (Compliance Assessment Survey) to deal with all final dispositions of doping cases. We also worked hard to increase public awareness of the problem of doping.

Medscape: I guess part of that raising of awareness about doping in sports and the dangers of doping was the fact you were quoted in the media a lot. You've been quite a high-profile figure.

Mr. Pound: There was outreach via the media, and I did do a lot of interviews. While at WADA we also established a secure base of research funding and developed new tests, something you and I talked about in detail in a previous interview. We also worked a lot to get increased cooperation from governments, which was a big success for us.

Medscape: That's quite an impressive list of accomplishments. Surely everything didn't go smoothly. Could you highlight some of the areas that didn't work out as well? Failures?

Mr. Pound: Undoubtedly there are some areas that still need to be worked on. One of the big failures is the stonewalling on antidoping issues and testing being done by professional leagues -- baseball, hockey, and so on. Many IFs (international federations) are still not doing enough. While we've been successful in the past in getting funding to start up and keep basic programs running, WADA still needs to get significant increases in funding to improve the fight. There are several areas that could use more resources, such as research for developing new and improved tests, funding to improve testing programs, and more intensive efforts to prevent doping in the first place.

Medscape: How did you like working for WADA? Did you have a lot of freedom to do what needed to be done? Were your goals and WADA's goals the same? Could you tell Medscape readers what the biggest challenges were?

Mr. Pound: I enjoyed my experience at WADA very much, though it was hugely time-consuming for a voluntary position. I guess I have a certain passion about these issues that keeps me motivated. I had very little trouble in getting the things done that needed to be done, since I was, in effect, the CEO and was driving the agenda. The goals of the WADA stakeholders and my personal goals were pretty much the same. As for challenges, well, the biggest one always has been to develop genuine buy-in within the sports movement.

Medscape: What are the best tests for steroids and/or HGH? How accurate are they?

Mr. Pound: Right now the best test for steroids is urine-based gas mass spectrometry. It's a very accurate test. The HGH test is newer, but the test is very accurate also; however, the HGH test does not go back far enough to detect usage, say, 2 or 3 months before the test.

Medscape: There was a new study saying a genetic trait can lead to false positives and false negatives in people being tested for steroids. Could something like this lead to trouble in baseball, sports in general, and potentially put a damper on testing?

Mr. Pound: I'm not familiar with this study, and can't really evaluate it because I'm not a scientist. That said, no one has ever said tests were 100% on everybody; nothing ever is. I doubt something like this would cause much of a stir.

Medscape: The Olympics are coming up. Are there any new performance-enhancing drugs that are going to be a problem testing for? What's on the horizon for testing?

Mr. Pound: There often seems to be something in the works. But that's why we are always updating the banned substance list and doing work to both improve existing tests and develop new tests.

Medscape: Do you have any other comments on these areas for Medscape readers? How about a glimpse at the future?

Mr. Pound: Genetic doping may eventually be on the horizon, though it's been on the WADA banned list since 2005. Gene doping would be the manipulation of genes and cells to improve muscle strength, increase endurance, that sort of thing. It's all still pretty experimental right now. But studying ways to understand and detect gene doping is one of WADA's priority research programs right now. So, along with the development and evolution of the entire field of gene doping, work is being done in parallel to find ways to test for and detect it. WADA will be right there on top of all of these developments.

Insult to Injury
According to the Arizona Republic, Floyd Landis may face a suit from WADA.

"The World Anti-Doping Agency will seek to recoup legal costs of $1.3 million from Floyd Landis if the cyclist loses an appeal of a failed drug test that stripped him of his 2006 Tour de France championship.

The agency will follow "the normal process" in seeking costs if the American rider loses, WADA President John Fahey told a media conference call from Montreal on Monday. Landis appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a decision may come next month.

Landis said in April 2007 that he had spent more than $1 million in legal fees, about half of which has been paid through donations, and may have to seek bankruptcy."