Canada‘s women’s national team head coach Bev Priestman has been removed from the country’s Olympic team over a scandal involving the use of drones to spy on opponents’ practice, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced Thursday.
The COC said it made the decision after Canada Soccer decided to suspend Priestman for the remainder of the tournament. The episode began earlier this week when Canada’s opening opponent New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee has removed the Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team Head Coach Bev Priestman from the Canadian Olympic Team due to her suspension by Canada Soccer,” the COC statement read. “Assistant coach Andy Spence will lead the Women’s National Soccer Team for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The announcement followed a report from TSN that both Canada’s women’s and men’s soccer teams have used drones to record opponent’s closed-door training sessions for several years, including during the women’s team’s gold-meal winning Tokyo Olympic tournament in 2021.
“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 and 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.”
In the fallout of the initial complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home from the Olympics.
Canada won its opening game of the Olympics 2-1 over New Zealand on Thursday. Canada played the opener without coach Priestman, who stepped away from the team for the match to show accountability.
However, she was adamant at practice Wednesday that she had no knowledge of the drone use.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.