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Explained: Why was Canada's women's soccer team deducted six points at Paris Olympics 2024?
The Canadian women's soccer team faced a deduction of six points on day 1 of the Paris Olympics by FIFA, and three of their coaches were banned for almost a year. Along with this, the Canadian team was also fined almost $350,000 because they were accused of using drones to spy on their opponents.
Canada won the opening group match but faces a six-point deduction—three immediately and another three in the next match—casting doubt on their gold medal defense.
The investigation into the Canadian women's soccer team was initiated when their opponents, New Zealand, lodged a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee about a mysterious drone's presence during a closed training session.
After the complaint was filed, the police investigated the matter and found out that an unofficial assistant coach, Joseph Lombardi, was handling the drone. In addition, they discovered some text messages between Lombardi and his assistant Jasmine Mander, regarding the operation, as well as footage of New Zealand's training.
Was the head coach of the Canadian Women's soccer team aware of the drone incident ahead of the Paris Olympics?
Canada's head coach, Bev Priestman, did not directly mention anything about whether she was aware of her assistants operating the drone to spy on opponents at the pre-match media conference.
However, following the first game, the officials took the decision to suspend Priestman from Paris, as Olympic Committee chief executive David Shoemaker said that he had some information that convinced him of Priestman's involvement in the incident. (as quoted by ABC.net)
"Gathered some additional information ourselves that made me conclude that Priestman was highly likely to have been aware of the incident," Shoemaker said.
The other two assistants are also banned from all football events for a one-year period.
Amy Walsh, a former member of the Canadian women's national team, expressed deep disappointment over the coach's actions in the drone incident. She harshly criticized the coaching staff, labeling them ruthless and asserting that their behavior was 'far over the line.' (as quoted by abc.net)
"This is awful; the worst-case scenario. I feel sick to my stomach, genuinely nauseated. I understand when you get to a high level, people will be ruthless and do whatever they can do gain a competitive advantage, but this is so far over the line," Walsh said.
Calling it a betrayal from the coach's side, she added:
"The players are benefiting from the coaches cheating. There's a certain amount of blind trust that players have that coaches are doing things the right way, and this is the ultimate betrayal."
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