Olympic soccer spygate: Canada staffer detained, coach sent home after drone incidents

PARIS — A Canada soccer staffer was caught flying a drone over New Zealand training earlier this week as the two teams prepared to meet on opening day of the women's soccer competition here at the 2024 Olympics.

The staffer, Joseph Lombardi, was detained, and has now been sent home from the Games, the Canada Olympic Committee said Wednesday.

But only after French police searched his hotel room, recovered the drone footage, and got him to admit that the videos of two closed training sessions "had enabled him to learn the tactics of the opposing team," the local prosecutor's office said in a statement.

His boss, assistant coach Jasmine Mander, has also been removed from the Canadian delegation and sent home as punishment, the COC said. Head coach Bev Priestman self-imposed a one-game suspension.

The International Olympic Committee, meanwhile, says it is "looking into" the case. FIFA, global soccer's governing body, is also investigating.

The COC acknowledged in the second of two Wednesday statements that there had been two "drone incidents" over the past week. It said it was "shocked and disappointed. Priestman and the COC both apologized to New Zealand's soccer federation, to the New Zealand Olympic Committee and to "all the players affected."

"I am ultimately responsible for the conduct in our program," Priestman said in a statement. She said she would "voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match" against New Zealand "to emphasize our team's commitment to integrity," and "with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld."

Neither she nor Canada Soccer, though, clarified whether or not she had knowledge of the drone operation.

"By no means did I direct the individuals," Priestman said.

(A Canada assistant coach, presumably Mander, told French authorities in an interview with them that she had "nothing to do with the acts committed," the prosecutor's office said.)

The New Zealand Olympic Committee initially raised the issue with a Tuesday statement. When team members noticed the drone at a Monday session, they "immediately reported the incident to police," the NZOC said. The prosecutor's office mentioned that New Zealand also suspended its training session.

Police then arrested the drone's "pilot," who admitted to filming the practice session. He has been charged with flying an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area, and accepted an eight-month suspended sentence, according to the local prosecutor.

French authorities are on high alert this week ahead of Friday's Olympic Opening Ceremony, an open-air extravaganza on the River Seine. Amid security concerns, they have been strictly enforcing a ban on drones at and around Games venues throughout France. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Tuesday that authorities were intercepting an average of six drones per day.

"Systems are in place to allow us to very quickly intercept [drones] and arrest their operators," Attal said. "We can't allow anything to slip past us."

They have taken down drones flown by tourists, presumably unaware of the restrictions, Attal said.

What they likely didn't anticipate was needing to police the reigning Olympic women's soccer champions ahead of a matchup with an underdog.

Canada won gold in Tokyo. It opens its title defense Thursday in Saint-Étienne, several hours south of Paris, against New Zealand, the least-fancied team in a four-team group also featuring France and Colombia.

Both Canada and New Zealand have been training in the region ahead of the opener. After reporting the drone to police, the NZOC also said that it lodged a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee, and "asked Canada for a full review."

The IOC said in a Wednesday statement that it "welcomes the actions announced today by the Canadian Olympic Committee," and that it received the complaint. It's unclear if further sanctions will follow.