Olympic drone spying scandal lands Canadian coach a red card

A member of the Canadian Olympic women’s soccer team was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand’s practice session on Monday. It’s said to be the second “drone incident” at a New Zealand practice over the past week.

As a result, the Canadian Olympic Committee has announced that soccer coach Bev Priestman will not coach the Olympic team’s opening match tomorrow. Two other staffers have been removed from the team and are being sent home from the games.

The Canadian women’s soccer team is the defending Olympic champion after winning gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021. According to TSN, the New Zealand team is currently ranked 28th. Taking Priestman’s place as head coach during tomorrow’s match will be the team’s assistant coach, Andy Spence.

An existing ban on flying drones around Paris is being strictly enforced by security during the 2024 Summer Olympics, which officially start tomorrow. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Tuesday that security forces are intercepting an average of six drones each day using equipment such as electronic signal jammers, according to France 24.

On Monday, a drone was spotted flying over a practice session held by the New Zealand women’s soccer team in Saint-Étienne, France, a city located about six hours south of Paris. The incident was reported to French authorities who located and detained the drone’s operator, described by the COC as a “non-accredited” support member of the Canadian soccer team’s staff, according to the CBC.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee “formally lodged the incident with the [International Olympic Committee] integrity unit” and asked the COC for a full review, according to a statement released by the New Zealand Olympic Committee yesterday.

The COC and head coach Priestman apologized to the NZOC and announced several disciplinary actions after reviewing Monday’s events and a previous drone incident during a New Zealand practice on July 19th.

In addition to accepting Priestman’s decision to be removed from coaching the team’s opening match against New Zealand, two other members — Joseph Lombardi, an “unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer,” and Jasmine Mander, an assistant coach — are being removed from the Canadian Olympic team and being sent home. The COC says that Canada Soccer staff will also “undergo mandatory ethics training.”