Richard William Duncan Pound, a respected lawyer and statesman, and a man who has worked tirelessly at various Olympic levels.

Born in St. Catharines, he was a swimming competitor at the 1960 Rome Olympics. He medaled at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia. After retiring from competitive swimming he took a job with the Canadian Olympic Committee and eventually became their president.

YEARS OF OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE

Dick Pound ran for head of the International Olympic Committee and has been a crusader against doping in sports, having run the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In that capacity Mr. Pound commented on doping in various sports, but one might say his first love is the Olympics.

Pound's new book is called Inside the Olympics: A Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Politics, The Scandals, and The Glory of the Games. Over the last few days the book cover images have been passed around the internet by users as if they were snickering school kids, and perhaps many of them are.

He often goes by Richard W. Pound or Richard Pound, but either way it would be tough having that name because as much as you disguise it, everyone knows your name is Dick Pound. When he was born in 1942, did the short form for Richard even hold any other connotation? Not sure.

I can get past any of the double entendre, considering this man's amazing accomplishments, but why would his publisher consider this kind of cover (actually a chalked weight lifter's hand on a bar bell), crop it just so, and emblazon the name DICK POUND in orange caps right above the suggestive pic? Never mind why some smart ass at Amazon described the book as "lucid and penetrating."

As an author you often don't have control over such things as your book cover, but as a smart accomplished lawyer, I would certainly attempt to wrestle some. Hardly anyone has even talked about the contents of the book yet and the 2012 Games are days away. That's a shame. Or maybe if you've been Dick Pound for 70 years, you're just used to it by now. LEAVE COMMENTS.

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The book....