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The drone scandal surrounding the Canadian ladies’s nationwide soccer crew may have wider implications than simply this yr’s Olympic Video games in Paris.
Head coach Bev Priestman was faraway from her place on Thursday night time after two workers members have been despatched residence from Paris, following an investigation into analyst Joseph Lombardi utilizing a drone to spy on New Zealand coaching.
Head coach Beverly Priestman reacts throughout the ladies’s gold medal match between Canada and Sweden on Day 14 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video games at Worldwide Stadium Yokohama on August 6, 2021 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Naomi Baker/Getty Photos)
“Over the previous 24 hours, we now have discovered extra about earlier drone deployments in opposition to opponents forward of the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games,” Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue mentioned in an announcement.
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“In gentle of those new revelations, Canada Soccer has determined to droop the top coach of the ladies’s nationwide soccer crew, Bev Priestman, for the rest of the 2024 Olympic Video games in Paris and till our just lately introduced unbiased exterior investigation is accomplished.”
The revelation that unethical footage of opponents could have been taken previously comes amid Canada’s bid to defend its Olympic title. The ladies’s crew received gold in Tokyo, successful their first match in opposition to New Zealand on Thursday – earlier than Priestman was fired.
Priestman, who didn’t compete Thursday, was possible conscious of the drone use, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker mentioned at a information convention. He additionally hinted that there could possibly be issues with Canada’s gold medal efficiency in Tokyo due to it.
David Shoemaker, CEO and Secretary Basic of the Canadian Olympic Committee, speaks to the media on July 2. (RJ Johnston/Toronto Star through Getty Photos)
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“We now have gathered some extra data ourselves which leads me to consider that it’s extremely possible that she was conscious of the incidents right here in Saint-Etienne,” Shoemaker informed reporters.
“There appears to be data now that would tarnish that Olympic efficiency in Tokyo,” he continued. “It makes me sick. It makes me sick to suppose that there could possibly be something that casts doubt on … certainly one of my favourite Olympic moments in historical past, that girls’s crew successful that gold medal in opposition to all odds within the COVID restrictions.”
Whereas investigations by FIFA, the IOC and Canada Soccer are ongoing, officers haven’t publicly reported a sample of espionage, however they’ve pointed to a number of cases.
Crew Canada gamers have fun their crew’s victory within the penalty shootout throughout the ladies’s gold medal match between Canada and Sweden on Day 14 of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video games at Worldwide Stadium Yokohama on August 6, 2021 in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Naomi Baker/Getty Photos)
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Blue mentioned there was additionally an incident involving the lads’s nationwide crew on the Copa América. He mentioned he didn’t consider it had any affect on the aggressive integrity of the sport, however wouldn’t give particulars.
He added that the ladies’s crew gamers themselves weren’t concerned in any unethical behaviour.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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