Canadian coaches kicked out of Oly for spy drone
The Canadian women’s soccer team assistant coach and an analyst have been kicked out of the Olympic squad after Team New Zealand said it had its training session disrupted by a drone flown by a staff member of its Group A opponents, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said Wednesday.
Head coach Bev Priestman has also removed herself from coaching the team against New Zealand in Group A on Thursday, the COC added.
“Joseph Lombardi, an unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and will be sent home immediately,” COC said in a statement.
“Jasmine Mander, an assistant coach to whom Mr. Lombardi reports to, is being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and will be sent home immediately.”
Priestman apologized for the offense.
“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,” she said.
“This does not represent the values that our team stands for. I am ultimately responsible for 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,” Priestman continued. “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 drone was flown on Monday and the incident was reported by the NZOC to the police and to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit.
“The NZOC and New Zealand Football are committed to upholding the integrity and fairness of the Olympic Games and are deeply shocked and disappointed by this incident, which occurred just three days before the sides are due to face each other in their opening game of Paris 2024,” NZOC said in a statement.
“At this time the NZOC’s main priority is to support the New Zealand women’s football athletes and wider team as they start their campaign.”
In a statement issued later on Wednesday, the French prosecutor’s office said via news release that Lombardi was arrested, admitted guilt and accepted an eight-month suspended sentence. Assistant coach Mander was interviewed and exonerated.
It’s not the first time a Canadian soccer team has been involved in a drone controversy involving an international rival’s training session.
In 2021 at Toronto, Honduras stopped a training session ahead of its men’s World Cup qualifier against Canada after spotting a drone above the field, according to reports in Honduran media. The teams played to a 1-1 draw.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
