The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed Canada women’s national soccer team coach Bev Priestman from the Canadian Olympic team, the committee announced Thursday. Priestman was already suspended for Canada’s first group match of the Olympics against New Zealand, which they won 2-1, due to her personnel issues. spy with a drone about their opponent’s training session.
“Over the last 24 hours, we have received additional information regarding the earlier use of drones against opponents ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” said Kevin Blue, CEO and General Secretary of Canada Soccer. said in a statement“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend women’s national soccer team head coach Bev Priestman for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and pending the completion of our recently announced independent external review.”
TSN reported that Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have been relying on espionage for yearsincluding during Canada’s campaign to win the Olympic gold medal in 2021.
The Canadian women’s national team will be led by assistant coach Andy Spence for the remainder of the tournament. While the extended suspension is not a direct response to this report, it does indicate that this may be more than a one-off incident that the Canadian Olympic Committee wants to get to the bottom of.
CBC reported on Thursday that the person at the centre of the drone scandal, Joseph Lombardi, also director of a national youth program at Canada Soccer.
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