This time we can “blame Canada.”
On Monday, an “unauthorized member of the Canada Soccer Support Team” was spotted flying a drone over a training session of the New Zealand women's Olympic soccer team in Saint-Etienne, France.
The Olympic committees of both countries have acknowledged the incident, and Canada apologized in a statement Tuesday night.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee said in a statement that a drone operated by support staff for the Canadian women's soccer team was spotted over a training session in New Zealand.
The drone was immediately reported to police and the drone pilot was detained by authorities, according to the statement, but it is unclear whether any charges have been filed in connection with the incident.
“The New Zealand Olympic Committee has formally reported the incident to the IOC's integrity department and has requested a full investigation by Canada,” the statement said.
The New Zealand statement also said that Canada had apologised to the Olympic Committee.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said it became aware of the situation after receiving a complaint on Monday and expressed “shock and disappointment” about the incident.
“The crew appears to have been using a drone to film the New Zealand women's soccer team training,” the Canadian Olympic Committee said in a statement. “The Canadian Olympic Committee believes in fair play and is shocked and disappointed. We offer our sincere apologies to New Zealand Soccer, all the athletes affected and the New Zealand Olympic Committee. We are working with the IOC, Paris 2024, Canada Soccer and FIFA to assess next steps.”
The Canadian side said it would provide a further update on Wednesday.
The incident happened just days before the defending gold medallists are due to face New Zealand at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in the group stage of the Summer Olympics.
Canada won the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, beating Sweden in a penalty shootout.
