Julius Okorie
Head Coach of reigning Olympic Champions Canada Bev Priestman has been removed from her post following drone scandal the Canadian Olympic Committee has revealed.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelIt is not the first time the said coach would be linked with use of drone to spy on her opponents.
“Over the past 24 hours, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents, predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” a statement from Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue read.
“In light of these new revelations, Canada Soccer has made the decision to suspend Women’s National 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.”
The New Zealand Olympic Committee lodged a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee after a drone filmed its women’s soccer team practising on July 22 in Saint-Étienne, France, a city 400 kilometres south of Paris.
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Local police detained the alleged drone operator, Joseph Lombardi, described as an “unaccredited analyst with Canada Soccer.” Lombardi received an eight-month suspended jail sentence and was sent home by Canada along with assistant coach Jasmine Mander, who was reportedly aware of the spying.
Reigning champions, the Canadian women’s soccer team had its first 2024 Olympic match against New Zealand on Thursday, which Canada won 2-1.
“Obviously the timing was quite terrible,” Canadian captain Jessie Fleming told reporters after the game. “But I think for us, we’ve just leaned into each other as a player group and we really just want to focus on being here and playing.”Priestman had volunteered to sit out Thursday’s match.
An English professional football manager, Priestman served as assistant coach for the Canadian women’s soccer team until replacing John Herdman as head coach in 2020. She led Canada to gold in Tokyo in 2021.
According to TSN sources, Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams have both been engaged in efforts to film opponents’ closed-door training sessions for years.
International Olympic Committee May React
The Canadian Olympic Committee has apologized to New Zealand and says Priestman will be replaced by assistant coach Andy Spence for the remainder of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It is not known yet whether the international Olympic Committee will make any further comment on the matter.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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