The 2024 Paris Olympics have yet to start for Canadian athletes, but they’ve already ended for a pair of Canadian staff members.
On Tuesday, the news broke that the New Zealand women’s national soccer team had flagged a drone flying over one of their training sessions. The drone was eventually linked back to the Canadian contingent.
“Team support members immediately reported the incident to police, leading to the drone operator, who has been identified as a support staff member of the wider Canadian Women’s football team, to be detained,” reads the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s statement per the Straits Times.
Less than 24 hours later, the Canadian Olympic Committee sent home Canada Soccer staff members Joseph Lombardi and Jasmine Mander as a result of the incident.
Canada and New Zealand meet in their opening match of the tournament on Thursday at 11 am ET/ 8 am PT. Canada enters the tournament as defending gold medallists, defeating Sweden in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Final.
Canadian head coach Bev Priestman also voluntarily removed herself from the match due to the incident.
“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. This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” Priestman said in a statement.
“I am ultimately responsible for the 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.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee has put out a series of statements in response to the incident.
“The COC is in contact with the IOC and in contact with FIFA. Canada Soccer has been transparent and cooperative throughout the process. The COC will continue to review this matter and may take further action if necessary,” today’s statement read.
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