Things are not going well for the Canadian Olympic team right now, with a drone incident potentially opening a scandal that could seriously damage the reputation of those involved.

For context, it has been announced that Canadian women’s soccer head coach Bev Priestman had voluntarily removed herself from the team. Reports suggest New Zealand have complained to the International Olympic Committee about drones being flown over their training sessions by Canada before their upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics match.

Following this, Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue noted, “At the moment we are trying to directly address what appears to look like it could be a systemic ethical shortcoming, in a way that’s frankly, unfortunately painful right now, but is turning out to be a necessary part of the rehabilitation process”.

However, the bigger story here is that this seems to be something that has been going on for a while. Blue went on to note that he was “aware of an instance of attempted drone usage at the Copa America” but was quick to highlight that no players are involved with the scandal. 

Perhaps the most concerning part of this scandal, though, relates to the Canadian women’s soccer success at the Tokyo Games. Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive David Shoemaker suggested there “appears to be information that could tarnish” this achievement, which would be a massive blow to the team. 

Priestman’s position as head coach now hangs in the balance, but this is the last thing the team needs before a big tournament, so it will be interesting to see whether there is a knock-on effect regarding their upcoming performances.