dick pound

I Love Dick (Pound)

Dick Pound. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

On Tuesday, a statement from a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), concerning the fate of the summer’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics as it relates to the recent coronavirus outbreak, began to circulate widely on Twitter. People did not seem as interested in the substance of the statement itself, however, as they did in the name of the man making it:

Dick Pound.

Dick Pound, as the AP report on his statement noted, is “a former Canadian swimming champion who has been on the IOC since 1978, making him its longest-serving member.”

In addition to being an Olympic swimmer, Dick Pound served as the chancellor of Canada’s McGill University, and the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency. In 2005, he was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people. Impressive. What’s even more impressive, in my opinion, is that Dick Pound’s full name is Richard William Duncan Pound, meaning that at any point in his 77 years of life he could have chosen to go by, like, Rick, or Rich, or Will, or Duncan, but instead, he chose to go by Dick. Dick Pound. Swimmer Dick Pound. Longest-serving member Dick Pound. Thank you, Dick Pound.

Shortly after the AP posted its tweet, the term “Dick Pound” began trending on Twitter, because people need something, anything lighthearted to cling onto, even though the context in which we were hearing about Dick Pound wasn’t really lighthearted at all.

Indeed, in these dark times, we could all use a good Dick Pound.

I Love Dick (Pound)