Inside the Olympics: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Politics, the Scandals, and the Glory of the Games

Richard W. Pound

Wiley, Jun 1, 2004 - Sports & Recreation - 288 pages

"You won't always agree with Dick Pound...but his 'no holds barred' approach to so many major issues will keep you reading all night long."
—Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Sports and Olympics

"The Olympic Games exist for the benefit of the athletes and not the IOC. Many IOC members still don't get it; however, Dick Pound [a former Olympic swimmer] certainly does. His unique view from inside the Olympic Movement is told in his usual straightforward manner, with his special blend of idelism and cynicism."
—Brian williams, CBC, Veteran Broadcaster and Olympic Host

"The only man who could have written this book has done it with candor and style. A lucid and penetrating look at the five-ringed world, filled with Dick Pound's customary insight, frankness and wit. Inside the Olympics wins gold, silver and bronze."
—John Powers, Boston Globe

"Pound takes us through the Olympic landscape with insight and opinion and on one of the biggest problems we all face: drugs in sport, he has always stood shoulder to shoulder with the good guys."
—Sebastian Coe, OBE, double Olympic Gold 1500-meter champio

What people are saying

Review: Inside the Olympics: A Behind-The-Scenes Look at the Politics, the Scandals and the Glory of the Games

User Review  - Dustin - Goodreads

This book is written by an Olympic insider who no doubts has an incredible amount of knowledge about the Games. Unfortunately, this book includes way to many details at times and other times it glosses right over things.

About the author

Richard W. Pound has been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for 25 years. He has served on the IOC Executive Board, and in 1987 was elected vice-president for a four-year term and served a second term from 1996 to 2000. During the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, he was acting president, and in 2001 ran unsuccessfully in the election to replace Juan antonio Samaranch as the eighth president of the IOC.
Pound is founding chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which was established in 1999. He was also Chairman of the IOC Television Negotiation Committee [1983-2001], and Chairman of the IOC Marketing Committee until 2001. Pound served as the Chair of the Coordination Commission for the 1996 Olympic Games, and as a director of the Organizing Committee for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta. It was partly because of Pound's investigation of the recent Salt Lake City bribery scandal that new regulations and an ethics watchdog to oversee interaction between IOC members and bidding cities were created. he is a past president, director, and executive committee member of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Born in Canada in 1942, Pound began his athletic career as a competitive swimmer. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, he was a double Olympic finalist, finishing fourth in the 400 meter medley relay and sixth in the 100 meter freestyle. He went on to win four medals — a gold, a bronze, and two silvers — at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Pound was educated in Montreal, receiving degrees in commerce and law from McGill. He is currently a partner in the law firm Stikeman Elliott. In 1999, he was made the seventeenth chancellor of McGill University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Inside the Olympics: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Politics, the Scandals, and the Glory of the Games
• Author: Richard W. Pound
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Wiley, 2004
• ISBN: 0470834544, 9780470834541
• Length: 288 pages
• Subjects: Sports & Recreation / Olympics; Sports & Recreation / Sociology of Sports