The routine game wasn’t talked about much at the time, but this week’s controversy surrounding Canada’s Olympic team raised questions about previous sporting events involving the North American country.
This week, a member of the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer team was caught using a drone to spy on New Zealand training on Monday. It is said to be the second “drone incident” at a New Zealand practice in the past week.
Because of this, the Canadian Olympic Committee has announced that soccer coach Bev Priestman will not coach the Olympic team’s opening game tomorrow. Two other employees have been removed from the team and will be sent home from games.
A report from Canadian broadcaster TSN also states that this is not an isolated incident, and sources claim that the use of drones has been practiced in Canada for several years. A training session before a women’s national team game against Panama in July 2022, when Canada was trying to qualify for the Women’s World Cup in Australia, was also said to have been recorded.
Canadian Soccer CEO Kevin Blue was asked by reporters at 42.ie whether something like this had happened during Ireland’s World Cup clash with Canada last summer and did not rule out it could have happened in Australia and New Zealand last year.
“I don’t know the definitive answer to that.” Blue told Irish outlet 42.ie.
“That is why we are looking at this issue holistically as part of our independent review.
“To the extent the reporting in this TSN story is accurate, this is certainly a possibility. I do not interpret as fact everything reported in the press on this subject until we can substantiate it through the formal review process that will take place.
“Certainly what has been reported, if accurate, is an alarming indication of a significant problem. It is our responsibility to investigate the information reported there along with other information to provide concrete evidence of what happened.”
The Olympic Games will take place until August 11th.
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