The 71-year-old Canadian joins a list of former winners that includes British journalist Andrew Jennings, author of The Lords of the Rings , Power, Money & Drugs in the Modern Olympics, and Italian athletics coach Sandro Donati, who campaigned against doping in his country. 

Play the Games aims to strengthen the ethical foundation of sport and promote democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in sport and is run by Danish Institute for Sports Studies, an independent institution set up by the Danish Ministry of Culture.

Pound, a former Olympic swimmer, has been a member of the IOC since 1978 and led the inquiry into the Salt Lake City 2002 scandal which led to ten members either being expelled or leaving the IOC and another ten sanctioned.

Pound, a lawyer in Montreal, was also one of the driving forces behind the establishment of WADA, serving as founding President between 1999 and 2008. 

"He is ruthless and direct when it comes to pointing his fingers at all the critical points in the international fight against doping," said Søren Riiskjær, vice-chairman of the board of Play the Game/Danish Institute for Sports Studies when presenting the award.

"It might not be a person you will always agree with - or like to disagree with - and it might be a person that also from time to time opted to choose his internal fights with care.

"But the person...has certainly added enormous value to the world of sport during his many years as a top level international sports leader."

Dick Pound receiving the Play the Game 2013 Award from Søren Riiskjær, vice-chairman of the Board of Play the Game/Danish Institute for Sports Studies Photo: Thomas Søndergaard/Play the Game

Pound, who failed to regain his position on the IOC's ruling Executive Board at its Session in Buenos Aires last month, claimed that he did not deserve the award.

"I do believe, as many have said here, that sport has become so important that we in fact do face a crisis and that we should not wait until we hit the wall before we do something about it," he said.

"Because once you hit the wall, you have no idea what sort of chaos will result and how long it takes to earn back a reputation that you've built up for many years.

"I, for my part, will try to encourage a more responsive participation from within the IOC because I think we should be here, not only to speak about what we think is important, but to hear what other people believe is important.

"The combination, I think, will make for a better, more morally-based, ethically-based sports system in the world and we do need some guiding values these days"

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