Update: July 23- 3:45 p.m.
The Canadian Soccer Federation announced they would be launching an independent inquiry into the alledged use of drones at the Olympics.
In a statement sent to the media Canada Soccer President Peter Augruso and CEO/General Secretary Kevin Blue offered their apologies.
On behalf of our Federation, we offer our sincere apologies to the impacted players, coaches, and officials.
Canada Soccer has always sought to prioritize integrity and fair competition, and we understand that competing with honesty is a baseline expectation for all Canadians. We failed to meet those expectations in this case, and for that, we apologize.
-Statement from Peter Augruso, President & Kevin Blue
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) has sent two coaches from the women’s soccer team home from the Olympics after investigating accusations they’d been using drones to watch an opponent practice.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee reported a drone was flown over the women’s soccer team practice on Monday.
Following that the COC launched an investigation into the matter, which resulted in Assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi being expelled from the Olympic camp.
Canada’s Head Coach Bev Priestman released a statement following that decision taking responsibility for what happened.
“I am ultimately responsible for the conduct in our program,” Priestman wrote. “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.”
Priestman will now sit out Canada’s first match which is against New Zealand, the team they are accused of spying on. It will take place on Thursday ahead of the Olympic ceremonies which will take place Friday.
Canada comes into the Olympics as defending gold medalists having claimed their first-ever Olympic gold at the last games in Tokyo.
