Two Canadians excluded from Olympic team and sent home after drone spying incident

“On behalf of our entire team, I would first like to apologize to the players and staff of New Zealand Football and the players of Team Canada. This does not represent the values ​​our team stands for.”

The COC also announced that Canada Soccer employees must attend mandatory ethics training.

Canada is the reigning Olympic champion in women’s soccer, having won gold in Tokyo three years ago. New Zealand is ranked 28th in the world.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee alerted police after a drone flew over the women’s soccer team’s training on Monday, and the COC confirmed on Tuesday that a “non-accredited” member of the Canadian soccer team’s staff had been arrested by French authorities.

The NZOC also filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee’s Integrity Unit and asked Canada for a full review.

The COC apologized to the NZOC and the country’s football association and said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the behavior.

This is not the first time a Canadian soccer team has been embroiled in a drone controversy involving the training of an international rival.

In 2021 in Toronto, Honduras suspended a training session before its men’s World Cup qualifier against Canada after spotting a drone over the field, according to Honduran media reports. The teams played out a 1-1 draw.

French security forces guarding the Paris 2024 sites intercept an average of six drones a day, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Tuesday.

Attal added that the drones are often operated by “individuals, possibly tourists, who want to take photos.”

“That’s why it’s important to remind people of the rules. There is a ban on flying drones,” he said, according to several news agencies.

“There are systems that allow us to intercept (drones) very quickly and arrest their operators.”