Two members of the Canadian Olympic team were dismissed and “sent home immediately” on Wednesday after they were caught using a drone to “record the New Zealand women’s football [soccer] team during practice.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the incident, which was a violation of Canada’s commitment to “fair play” during the Olympics.
The COC on Tuesday released a statement saying a “non-accredited member of the Canada Soccer support team” was detained by French police in the city of Saint-Etienne, located near Lyon. The staffer was accused of spying on the New Zealand women’s soccer team with a drone.
On Wednesday, COC said Joseph Lombardi, an “unaccredited analyst with Soccer Canada,” would be sent home along with assistant women’s soccer coach Jasmine Mander.
According to Canada’s National Post, Lombardi is an experienced 43-year-old technical coach who has been working in the system since 2009. He was a staffer at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and worked at six FIFA youth tournaments during the ten years before that.
Mander, 29, is the assistant coach Lombardi reported to and is close to head coach Bev Priestman. She was an assistant when Canada won the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She has been involved in coaching soccer since she was a teenager.
The Toronto-based Women’s Executive Network recognized Jasmine Mander as one of the “most powerful women” in Canadian sports in 2020.
Another twist to Mander’s sad downfall is that her brother Amar is a physiotherapist for the New Zealand women’s team. The entire family was excited for the brother and sister to face each other at the Olympics.
“We’d never, ever pictured ourselves going to the Olympics, let alone lining up against each other for different soccer teams. Honestly, I can’t even put it in words, the feeling,” Amar said in an interview last month.
COC said it was fully cooperating with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the FIFA soccer association on the investigation. The committee added that all Canada Soccer staffers have been instructed to undergo mandatory ethics training.
Head coach Bev Priestman apologized to both Canadian and New Zealand players. She said the actions of Lombardi and Mander do not “represent the values our team stands for.”
“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program. Accordingly, to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld,” Priestman said.
“I support the sanctions being imposed by the Canadian Olympic Committee, their apologies to New Zealand, and the decision of Head Coach Bev Priestman,” said Canadian Minister of Sport and Physical Activity Carla Qualtrough.
“These decisive actions will help ensure that individuals are held accountable and preserve the integrity of the game and fair play for all athletes,” Qualtrough said.
The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) lodged a complaint with the IOC after Lombardi’s arrest and asked the COC to conduct a “full review” of the incident. NZOC said its team members spotted the drone and reported it to the police.
The NZOC and New Zealand Football said they were “shocked and disappointed” by the incident.
