The 2024 Paris Olympics was hit by a spy scandal and was not even scheduled to take place in time for the opening ceremony.
Earlier this week, a Canadian soccer staff member was caught flying a drone over New Zealand's training in France ahead of Thursday's group stage match. The staff member was detained and ultimately sent home from the Olympics after French police searched his hotel room and retrieved the drone footage.
Of course, this led to multiple investigations.
While there are still many questions to be answered, here's everything we know so far about the Canada soccer spy scandal in Paris.
July 20: New Zealand train at the Michon Stadium in Saint-Étienne
New Zealand began training in France on Saturday ahead of the Olympics.
Local prosecutors said a supervisor at the Olympic training facility had called police on Monday to report a drone flying over Auguste Dury Stadium. New Zealand's team coach notified the supervisor about the drone and immediately halted training.
Police subsequently arrested Joseph Lombardi, 43, an “unofficial analyst” for the Canadian women's soccer team, for operating the drone and filming private training sessions. Lombardi's hotel room was searched and the drone was confiscated. Lombardi acknowledged that the video of two private training sessions, including the one on July 20, “gave me insight into the opposing team's tactics.”
Lombardi was charged with flying a drone in a no-fly zone and received an eight-month suspended sentence, while assistant coach Jasmine Mander was questioned but not charged.
The COC released a statement saying it had learned that a non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer Support Team had been detained by French authorities after New Zealand filed a complaint.
According to the complaint, Canadian Soccer Association staff are accused of using a drone to film a training session of the New Zealand women's team on July 22.
The COC offered its “sincere apologies” to the New Zealand players and said it would work with the IOC, Paris 2024, the Canadian Soccer Federation and FIFA to evaluate next steps.
July 24: Canada head coach Bev Priestman withdraws from the season opener.
Following an investigation into the drone incident by the COC, a second incident involving a drone was discovered, linked to a training session in New Zealand on July 19.
After learning these new details, both staff members, Lombardi and Mander, were removed from the Canadian Olympic team and immediately sent home.
Canada women's national team coach Bev Priestman has told the Olympic committee she will step down as coach for the team's opening Olympic match against New Zealand on July 25.
“On behalf of the entire team, I would like to first apologize to the players and staff of New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada. This does not reflect the values our team stands for,” Priestman said in a statement. “I am ultimately responsible for the actions within our program and therefore have voluntarily decided to withdraw from coaching Thursday's match to underscore my team's commitment to integrity. I am doing this in the spirit of accountability, with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of the match is upheld.”
Canadian Soccer Association staff have also been ordered to undergo mandatory ethics training.
July 25: Canada vs. New Zealand
With Priestman back at the team hotel and assistant coach Andy Spence in charge, Canada beat New Zealand 2-1 on Thursday in their opening Olympic group stage match.
Chloe Lacasse put Canada ahead just before halftime in extra time, and Mackenzie Barry tied the game after New Zealand's goal in the opening minutes. Interestingly, Barry's goal came off a set piece. Canada's Evelyn Viens then scored in the 79th minute to give Canada a one-goal lead and ultimately secure the victory.
The win gave Canada three points in Group A and put them in an early tie for first place with France, which beat Colombia 3-2 in their first group-stage match on Thursday.
Canada and France play on Sunday.
July 25: Canada suspends coach Bev Priestman, sends her home
Shortly after the win over New Zealand, the Canadian Soccer Association announced that Priestman would be suspended for the remainder of the Olympics, and Spence was named interim coach of the team.
The announcement comes after TSN reported that spying has been going on for years within both the men's and women's national teams. The women's team even allegedly used drones to spy on opponents during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where they won the gold medal, and when they were trying to qualify for the Women's World Cup the following year.
July 26: Canada Soccer CEO not considering withdrawing team from Olympics
Canada Soccer Federation CEO Kevin Blue said at a press conference on Friday that no players were involved in drone spying and that he hopes FIFA will take into account how it handled the incident before imposing any further punishments.
As for past spying by the men's and women's teams, Blue said he learned this week that the men's coaching staff “had been experimenting with using drones” during the Copa America. Canada's head coach, Jesse Marsh, found out about it “after the fact” and “blamed it on his staff that this was the practice,” he said.
“They gave us a reason to think further about whether this was coordinated,” Blue said.
Blue said he believes the Canadian Soccer Association's response to the scandal was appropriate, adding that he has no plans to pull the team from the Olympics.
Former Canadian women's national team captain Christine Sinclair, who retired from international competition in October, said in a statement on Instagram that during her 23 years with the team, she and her team were never shown drone footage.
“It is unfortunate that our national team players have had to endure reprehensible behavior by a section of our staff while attempting to defend our gold medal, over which we have no control,” Sinclair wrote.
Sinclair, who earned 331 caps for Canada and competed in four Olympic Games, ended her statement by saying she would be cheering on the players throughout the tournament and urged Canadians to do the same.
