All eyes on Canadian soccer team at Olympics as spy drone scandal unfolds

PARIS — Canada sent women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman home from the Olympics on Friday, but I suspect she’s reading them as I write this. An analyst for Priestman’s program was caught using drone to film opponent’s trainingwhich prompted a damning criticism from TSN report Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have been doing this “for years,” prompting Priestman to leave the reigning gold medallists, potentially leading to her firing. Analyst Joseph Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander were also sent home as a result.

Every Olympics is marked by a few scandals. That’s normal. The motto of the Olympics should be Citius Altius Fortius, bribe us. But as scandals go, this one is shaping up to be a major one, bigger than it seems to American fans accustomed to filmed scandals.

Last fall, the Michigan football team was taken take a video of the sidelines of upcoming opponents. It was against the rules, but it happened in packed stadiums; watching the signals was legal, but filming them was not. These transgressions would have been exponentially worse if Michigan had been caught breaking into opponents’ practices and filming them.

That’s what Canada did this week, and, according to TSN, before the Tokyo Olympics as well. It’s a truly significant tactical advantage. Priestman’s team won gold in Tokyo by the narrowest of margins, thanks to a relentless style of play. Canada allowed just four goals in six games. None of them came from corners or free kicks, set pieces where spying on an opponent’s practice would be most useful. Canada beat Brazil in the quarterfinals and Sweden in the final on penalties.

The IOC has stripped medals from many athletes long after they were awarded. Usually, it’s for doping. But in 2008, Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw his bronze medal to the ground and attacked an official. The IOC stripped him of his medal for violating the spirit of fair play.

If Canada had filmed its opponents’ practices on the way to gold… well…

We’re not there yet. We may not get there. But it’s a stain on the Canadian Soccer Association, and it’s not going to go away.

Canada is now fighting on two fronts: what happened and what it means.

A thorough and transparent investigation would tell us what happened – and there’s a good chance we’ll get one. Canada Soccer CEO Jason Blue has already acknowledged that “over the last 24 hours, additional information has been brought to our attention regarding the prior use of drones against opponents, prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” and promised an independent investigation. Cynicism in these situations is understandable. But Blue has only been on the job for five months. If he didn’t know Canada was cheating, the worst thing he could do for his own job security is cover it up.

Whatever the conclusions of this investigation, a long debate will open on its meaning.

This is where other scandals are telling. The New England Patriots broke NFL rules about videotaping opponents’ sidelines, violations that became particularly egregious after the league sent out a memo specifically warning teams not to do so. Within the NFL, many people believed the Patriots had cheated to win their first three Super Bowls. Those feelings were reinforced when New England failed to win another Super Bowl, and even more so after the team was accused of deflating footballs. But then New England won three more Super Bowls, providing an effective rebuttal.

In 2019, the Houston Astros were caught illegally filming opponents’ moves. It tainted the team’s 2017 World Series title. But since that scandal broke, the Astros have played in four straight American League Championship Series and two World Series, and won the title in 2022. That, too, is an effective rebuttal.

After Michigan’s sign stealing was exposed, the Wolverines won the national championship, another effective rebuttal.

This year’s Canadian women’s team has a huge responsibility to validate the 2021 gold medal. It’s neither fair nor entirely logical, especially since Canada’s all-time best player, Christine Sinclair, has retired from international competition. But public perception is rarely accurate.

Priestman is gone. The Canadian women’s soccer team is still here. Suspicion will hang over both teams for the rest of the Olympics, and for a long, long time after they’re over.