Drone spying scandal claims first victims as Canada staff sent home

By Michael Burgess

The Paris Olympics Drone gate has claimed its first victims.

In a day of incredible twists and turns in France, the Canadian spying scandal involving the Football Ferns has got a lot deeper.

After discovering a second drone incident at New Zealand training on July 19 – on top of the already known one from Monday for which an individual was detained by St Etienne police – two Canadian staff members have been sent home from the Olympics.

Analyst Joseph Lombardi is already on a plane back, while assistant coach Jasmine Mander is also gone. Head coach Bev Priestman – who has previous links to New Zealand – has also stood down from Thursday’s match against the Ferns.

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologise to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada. This does not represent the values that our team stands for,” Priestman said.

“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasise our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. 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 Canadian Olympic Committee said their staff will undergo mandatory ethics training.

A French prosecutor told CBC that a 43-year-old coach — who is not named in the statement - was charged with maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. He has accepted a suspended sentence.

The inside word here is that the COC are scrambling, desperate to avoid any further sanctions, with financial penalties likely. A Canadian journalist admitted it was highly embarrassing.

The Herald can also reveal that Fifa may become involved. Though the Olympics comes under the IOC, Fifa is responsible for elements of the football program and it appears likely the matter may be referred to the all-powerful Fifa Integrity unit.

The Herald attempted to question COC officials in Paris on Tuesday afternoon but their large office at the main press centre was empty, with padlocks across the door.

The motivation is still unclear – and that is the biggest lingering question.

The NZOC and chef de mission Nigel Avery declined to respond to the Herald’s question when asked if this was a matter of Lombardi going rogue or something more sinister and pre-planned.

“It’s a great question but we just don’t know,” said Avery. “We know an amount of information and are investigating further.”

The drama started on 11:40pm on Tuesday night with the NZOC press release. The Herald had heard rumours of something happening in Saint Eitenne on Tuesday afternoon but was unable to confirm exactly what.

NZOC head of communications Ashley Abbott defended the process, when asked why it had taken so long to inform the public and media.

It takes a while to be able to understand exactly what had happened,” said Abbott. “On the 22nd, a drone was flown over the New Zealand team football training, in Saint Etienne. The New Zealand team support staff noticed the drone and reported it to the police. That person was detained.”

Abbott said Team Canada confirmed that Monday’s footage had been used for scouting purposes. The NZOC want answers from Canada and have lodged the incident with the IOC integrity unit.

“This incident is against that we stand for, with our values, with our commitment to an even and fair field of play,” said Avery. “It’s not the topic we want to be talking about. Extremely disappointed and shocked, Integrity is one of our five key pillars. It’s also taking away from us from an energy perspective. Concerned about our team; haven’t had a smooth buildup so far and this is another thing to overcome.”

Abbott and Avery said there had been numerous meetings with the Canada Olympic Committee: “They have apologised to us. They are deeply embarrassed, shocked.”

They didn’t want to speculate on possible outcomes – saying that the IOC will go through their own processes..

Avery also said it was quite complex. “It wasn’t in the field of play, it’s wrong to speculate.”

There have been other security breaches using drones in France, but they have been related to teams going outside their training zone. Drones are not permitted at all in Paris but are allowed in most of the other venues, including where the Football Ferns and Oly-Whites are based.

Abbott said the footage from Monday was around five minutes long, though it could have been longer.

“That footage is with police.”

It’s a bit of a riddle why Canada even bothered. They are the reigning Games champions while the Ferns are relative minnows, only here via one of the easiest Olympic qualification paths in world sport (playing amateur Oceania teams). New Zealand hasn’t beaten Canada since 1987 and have been on the wrong end of some heavy scorelines since then.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission