Canadian IOC member Dick Pound says he’s baffled by the attention given to comments he made about Toronto’s 2008 Olympic bid; that it was a long shot.
But Pound, a IOC presidential candidate, told the Toronto Star, “I never said it was a long shot; not at all. I said in Athens that I think it’s a terrific bid. I’ve been consistent about this from the start, all the way back to 1995. I said from the start that if Beijing was in the 2008 race, it would be a lot steeper hill for Toronto to climb. Not impossible, but steeper”.
When asked if he was annoyed by the apparent outrage, Pound replied, “I care that people apparently are unable to understand a statement of the obvious”.
He said his opinion has nothing to do with the fact that if Toronto wins the 2008 bid, it would hurt the chances of a Canadian winning the IOC presidency three days later.
Pound said that has nothing to do with it. “My job, as someone who has been around the IOC for 23 years, is to give a sensible opinion, not one that’s hopelessly boosterish”, he said.
TO-Bid chief operating officer Bob Richardson said of Pound’s comments, “all I can say is that the other three members of the IOC (from Canada) have been extremely supportive of our bid. Paul Henderson has been very supportive, Charmaine Crooks has been constantly involved and Bob Steadward (head of the Canadian Paralympic Association) couldn’t have been better. And the Canadian Olympic Association has been great, too”.
Meanwhile, Pound says he isn’t worried about continued forecasts that he’ll finish a distant third to Belgium’s Jacques Rogge and Korea’s Kum Un-yong in the presidential race.
When told that according to an Associated Press story both Rogge’s and Kim’s supporters figure Pound will get no more than 25 of a potential 122 votes, Pound said, “those are spin machines. A lot of candidates spend all their time talking to the press”.
