This time, you may “Blame Canada.”
A “non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer support team” was caught flying a drone over Latest Zealand’s women’s Olympic soccer team practice on Monday in Saint-Etienne, France.
Each nation’s Olympic committees have acknowledged the incident and Canada apologized in a press release of its own on Tuesday evening.
The Latest Zealand Olympic Committee said in its statement that a drone piloted by a Canadian women’s soccer team support staffer was spotted over Latest Zealand’s training session.
The drone was immediately reported to police, in line with the statement, and the drone operator was detained by authorities, though it’s unclear if there have been any charges filed in relation to the incident.
“The NZOC has formally lodged the incident with the IOC integrity unit and has asked Canada for a full review,” the statement said.
The Latest Zealand statement also said that the Canadians had apologized to the Olympic committee.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said it became aware of the situation after the grievance was made on Monday and expressed that they were “shocked and disillusioned” over the matter.
“The staff member is believed to have been using a drone to record the Latest Zealand women’s football team during practice,” the COC said in a press release. “The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair-play and we’re shocked and disillusioned. We provide our heartfelt apologies to Latest Zealand Football, to all of the players affected, and to the Latest Zealand Olympic Committee. We’re reviewing next steps with the IOC, Paris 2024, Canada Soccer, and FIFA.”
The Canadians said they would supply an additional update on Wednesday.
The incident comes just days before the defending gold medalists open the group stage of the Summer Olympics against Latest Zealand at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium.
Canada captured gold in the course of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo held in 2021 by defeating Sweden on penalties.
