The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed Canadian women’s national soccer team coach Bev Priestman from the Canadian Olympic team, the committee announced on Thursday. Priestman was already suspended for Canada’s first group stage match of the Olympics against New Zealand, which they won 2-1, due to her staff using a drone to spy over their opponent’s training session.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Soccer CEO & general secretary Kevin Blue 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 until the completion of our recently announced independent external review.”
TSN reported that Canada’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have relied on spying for years, including during Canada’s 2021 Olympic gold-medal winning campaign.
The Canadian women’s national team will be led by assistant coach Andy Spence for the remainder of the tournament. While the extended suspension isn’t directly in response to that report, it does show that this could be more than a one-time event which the Canadian Olympic Committee aims to get to the bottom of.
CBC reported on Thursday that the person at the center of the drone scandal, Joseph Lombardi, is also a director of a national youth program with Canada Soccer.
