Canadian Olympic Committee chief says Priestman had no knowledge of drone incident

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is convinced women’s soccer head coach Bev Priestman knew nothing about the spying scandal that embroiled her team in scandal ahead of their gold medal defence at the Paris Olympics.

The Canadian Olympic Committee said on Wednesday it accepted Priestman’s decision and she will withdraw from Thursday’s opener against New Zealand, while two Canadian team staff members were sent home for allegedly using drones during two New Zealand team training sessions.

In an online media availability, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker was repeatedly asked how Priestman avoided being banned and why he was willing to let her resume coaching duties after Thursday’s competition.

“I am convinced that Bev Priestman had nothing to do with this incident and had no knowledge of it,” Shoemaker told reporters. “Those individuals who were directly involved in this incident have been removed from the Canadian team by us.”

“Team Canada will not allow situations like this to occur. It is not consistent with our standards of fair play and the values ​​of the Canadian Olympic Committee.”

Shoemaker said the Canadian Olympic Committee reserves the right to impose further sanctions if there is any future evidence that Priestman was involved.

Canada Soccer is launching an independent external review into the matter, while FIFA, the global governing body for soccer, has begun disciplinary proceedings.

Shoemaker also said he did not think it was necessary for Priestman to miss more than one game because, he said, she did not have any footage of the New Zealand team training.

“We thought about all the ramifications for Bev,” Shoemaker said. “At the end of the day, the drone footage related to filming two New Zealand training sessions was still in the hands of the drone pilots, and I guess the advantage they were looking to gain was not realized.”

Shoemaker also said that while he was not aware of any calls to disqualify the Canadian women’s soccer team from the Olympics, he did say that Soccer New Zealand had filed a complaint with FIFA asking that Canada not receive any points if it wins Thursday’s game.