Canada tries to contain fallout of Olympic spying scandal

Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team seems to be aware it could face some real consequences for spying on New Zealand’s team with a drone.

On Tuesday, the New Zealand Olympic committee publicly accused Canada of using a drone to spy on a training session on July 22. New Zealand reported the incident to local police, who detained a staff member of the Canadian team.

In response, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) issued an apology for the behavior of “a non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer support team.”

One day later, the COC said that a second spying incident had come to light, this one having taken place on July 19.

As a result, the COC took action. First it sent home Joseph Lombardi, an “unaccredited analyst” and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, who oversees Lombardi.

Canada coach Bev Priestman has voluntarily removed herself from coaching the team’s opening match of the tournament, which takes place Thursday against New Zealand.

The COC also said Canada Soccer staff would undergo “mandatory ethics training.”

In a COC statement, Priestman apologized and took responsibility for the actions of two of her staff members.

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologize to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada,” Priestman said. “This does not represent the values that our team stands for.

“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld.”

Canada is the defending gold medalist, having defeated Sweden in the Olympic final in Japan in 2021.

The New Zealand Olympic committee has filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee, and the COC said it would continue to review the matter and would take further action if needed. FIFA also announced that it has opened disciplinary proceedings against Canada.

In other words, this story is far from over.

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