The Decibel - Drone spying casts shadows over Canada’s Olympic Games

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

One of the biggest stories of the Paris Olympics has centred on the Canadian women’s soccer team, as the reigning gold medal winners have been embroiled in an international spying scandal. Last week, French police arrested a Canada Soccer staffer for flying a drone above opponents’ training sessions before the games began. FIFA have docked the team six points, while head coach Bev Priestman and two assistants have been suspended for a year.The Globe’s Robyn Doolittle joins The Decibel from Paris to talk about the fallout of the scandal, how it affects government funding for Canada Soccer and the pall its cast over the Canadian Olympic story.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [e-mail]

For the women's soccer team, they are coming off of a gold medal, historic gold medal in Tokyo. They're the defending champions. Globe reporter Robin Doolittle is in Paris covering the Olympics. They've had some struggles in recent years, but, you know, huge medal hopes. And I think there was just so much excitement, anticipation and joy heading into Paris. But before the games had even begun, someone working for the Canadian women's soccer team was caught using a drone to spy on another team's practice. And it just immediately cast this really dark cloud over everything.

Canada's women's soccer team plays again today, Wednesday, against Colombia, in what's likely to be a win-or-go-home match. That's because, as a result of the drone spying scandal, FIFA docked six points from the Canadian women's soccer team, making it incredibly difficult to move on to the next round. Canada appealed that decision, which is expected to be ruled on today. So, Robin's on the show to walk us through what we know about the drone spying scandal, what could happen next, and the impact it's having on how Canada is seen at the Olympics.

I'm Maina Karaman-Wilms, and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Robin, thanks so much for chatting with me today. Bonjour. From Paris. From Paris. In 35 degrees Celsius weather right now, we are roasting. Wow. So before the games even began, there was this news of the scandal, right? So just walk us through, Robin, what happened last week? And when did we learn what? Okay, so the Globe reporters, there's a team of us or six of us here got here on Tuesday. And on Wednesday, this is how we heard about it. The

Canadian Olympic Committee put out a statement saying that they had become aware that a non accredited member of Canada soccer's support team had been detained by French police in Saint-Étienne where the women's team was practicing ahead of their first match, which was supposed to be against New Zealand on the Thursday. And it included the sentence saying the staff member is believed to have been using a drone to record the New Zealand women's team's football practice. That was how we heard about it. Just this really shocking statement. We'd never heard of anything like this happening before.

Throughout the day, the story quickly evolved. The analyst in question was identified as a man named Joseph Lombardi. And the Olympic Committee said that he had been removed and would be sent home. An assistant coach on Team Canada, Jasmine Mander, was quickly removed and also sent home. And head coach Bev Priestman removed herself voluntarily from the New Zealand match. Very quickly, FIFA, the sports federation that is in charge of soccer around the world, and actually also in charge of soccer here at the Olympics, it's kind of a unique situation for that sport specifically, announced it would be investigating the incident, that these

three staffers were under specific investigation for potential violations of their code of conduct. And then by the end of the day, Canada Soccer also announced its own investigation. And what was really interesting, and it was an investigation, not just into this specific incident, but into a wider culture of competitiveness within the sport in Canada. Wow. Yeah. There's a lot of things that happened really quickly then as a result of this. And we're going to talk about those implications. But let's just back up and focus on the details here a little bit, Robin. So Joseph Lombardi, this is the first guy you mentioned, he's actually arrested, right? But Jasmine Mander, the assistant coach is not. So what's the difference there? Yeah, the information in this case came out kind of in dribs and drabs

really quickly throughout the day. But the fullest picture we got was in an interview that I did and Jamie Ross, our sports editor did with David Charmatz, who was the prosecutor in St. Etienne who handled this case. And he told us that on the Monday, the New Zealand team was practicing in St. Etienne at a closed door practice. And the team manager of New Zealand noticed a drone flying overhead. They immediately ended the practice and alerted a member of security at the stadium. I mean, this is the Olympics. Everything is very heavily policed and scrutinized for security concerns. And so there were police stationed at the stadium. Police immediately started trying to investigate this drone.

And they saw the actual device kind of flying down to a man who was standing right outside the stadium. This is Joseph Lombardi. And they saw, you know, him receive the drone and they're saying, what are you doing here? And according to a French release, he identified himself as an independent contractor who had been asked to, you know, come help the Canadian women's team here in Paris. He's actually a full-time staff member at Canada Soccer. Now, whether he misrepresented himself or something was lost in translation, what we know is he is a full-time Canada Soccer staff member. He presides over, you know, an elite youth women's training program in the country. But he's also works as, you know, an analyst and that he had been asked by the national team to come help here in Paris. Okay,

so the police have focused on him and they open an investigation. They go to his hotel room. In his hotel room, they find additional footage and equipment that reveals that not only had the drone been used that day, it used at a previous practice a couple days earlier, also against New Zealand. The prosecutor also told us that officials interviewed Mr. Lombardi about what he was doing. And he volunteered that he was taking these videos to learn the opposing team's strategy. And that what the footage showed was the players kind of executing instructions from the coaches. So this, you know, could be really potentially valuable, you know, in a game, particularly on things like corner kicks where you're running a set play.

Police also discovered text messages on his phone between Mr. Lombardi and Jasmine Mander, the assistant coach. And that's how she kind of got pulled into this. The text messages show, the prosecutor says, that she was made aware that he was going to attend the New Zealand practice. But there wasn't anything in those conversations that suggested to police that she was involved in the drone use. And he was very emphatic that she was not involved. Police did interview her and decided not to charge her. What's interesting is in France, if someone admits guilt, they're eligible for an expedited process. And so Lombardi agreed to an eight-month suspended sentence, which basically means he has to follow a bunch of conditions, as well as the seizure of his computer equipment, the drone. And he was allowed to leave.

No other charges were laid. The prosecutor also told us that they found no evidence in Lombardi's phone that head coach Bev Priestman was involved in the spine incident against the New Zealand team. Now, interestingly, shortly after this is all breaking, the Canada Soccer that released this, that's saying over the past 24 hours, quote, additional information has come to our attention regarding previous drone use against opponents

predating the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And then they continue that because of this, in these new revelations, they've made the decision to suspend Bez Priestman for the remainder of the Games and until their review was done. And now ultimately, a decision has been made to suspend Mander and Priestman and Lombardi for a year. OK, so this this point of previous use seems like an important one. Do we know if Canadian teams have used drones to cheat and spy on other teams before? We do know that Canadian teams have been using drones, the extent to which is still unclear and is going to be the thing that everyone is focused on for the next, I don't know, months, maybe years. Right before the official start of

the Paris Games, Canada Soccer Chief Executive Kevin Blue held a press conference in which he said that he is aware of a situation involving Canada's men's team in which there was an instance of, quote, attempted drone usage during Copa America, the historic run that the Canadian team had. So this is the, you know, the real question is, you know, we now know that this involves the men's and women's team at some point. So just how deep does this run in Canadian soccer? And do we have any sense, Robin, is Canada unique here? Is this something that other countries, other teams are doing as well? And that's another question that we don't have a good grasp on. Yes. Is this, you know, is this a situation where, well, this is just common in soccer and everyone does this or is this just purely limited to Canada? It's a

question that, you know, I've been asking different federations over the last several days and I haven't got answers. Right now, the focus is on Canada. We'll be back in a moment. So you talked about some of the penalties, essentially, here that we have, Robin. So these individuals involved, FIFA has banned them for a year. FIFA has also fined Canada Soccer over $300,000. Yeah, that is not a trivial amount for this organization. This is an organization that is in deep financial trouble. I mean, I think in 2022, they were reporting on something like a $4 million deficit. So that alone is going to be quite

significant. And actually, the Canadian government also came out after this all broke and said that they would be withholding some funding that they send to the organization as well. So this has been physically costing for the organization, but you know, never mind all the reputational damage, the damage that the athletes are facing as they're trying to compete after, you know, never mind all the reputational damage, the damage that the athletes are facing as they're trying to compete after, you know, working towards a lifetime for this moment. It's just been a seismic event that's happened here. And the women's soccer team has also been deducted six points in this tournament. So this is kind of scoring for their run here. But we're actually appealing the point deduction.

Is that right? That's right. And we're actually going to have a decision very soon. FIFA's decision to penalize the team six points is huge. It's basically saying that they are in the negative before the tournament even starts. And I will just clarify. So Canada is appealing the point deduction. We are not appealing the entire cheating situation. That is not being appealed. That's right. We're appealing the point deduction. We are not appealing the entire cheating situation. That is not being appealed. That's right. We're appealing the point that it was too severe of a punishment. And this is, I think, another really important point is at this moment, there is no evidence to suggest that the athletes had knowledge of this or were aware of it. And in fact, there's been a lot of outpouring

of support for the athletes who are just, you know, kind of caught in the middle of this storm. They come off the pitch after a big game. And, you know, unfortunately, these are the questions that they're being asked right now. How have they responded, Robin? Like when they are being asked these questions, what are they saying? I mean, the players, I think they're saying that they're focused on soccer, that they're exhausted, that they, you know, have nothing to do with this, and that it's been really tough, you know, have nothing to do with this and that it's been really tough, you know, trying to compete on the world stage with this, but they're really rallying together. Kahal Kelly, our columnist, has been traveling to the different games. He interviewed some of

the players after, you know, you have a quote saying, it feels like it's us against everyone right now. Another girl said, we're not a part of this and we're getting sanctioned like we were doping. I think that that is kind of a good representation of how they're feeling. Yeah. I have to wonder, though, because this is it sounds like a pretty serious situation to be caught cheating during the Olympics. Right. Was there any talk of not allowing Canada to continue on competing? Like, I guess, why were they still allowed to play? I don't have any knowledge of the discussions that were happening within FIFA.

But certainly after this broke, there was a lot of speculation in the soccer world, you know, among reporters, among spectators. You know, is the Canadian team going to be allowed to continue? I think maybe what we saw here was the six point penalty is incredibly severe, like it's putting you hugely in a hole. And that the to outright disqualify the team, when there's no evidence that the players themselves were involved would unfairly punish the athletes. Robin, I want to bring this up because we've had lots of conversations about sports culture in Canada in the last few years. I'm thinking, of course, of your reporting on Hockey Canada. Those are very different situations from what we're talking about today. But I guess

when we're talking about this cheating scandal with Canada soccer, I guess, what does this say about the way that we approach sports and sports culture in Canada today? I think one of the reasons that this story has become such a dominant one in the Olympics, not just in Canada, but internationally. I mean, this was the news at the main press center and being covered by journalists around the world is because it sort of was an apparent contradiction of when people think of Canada, you know, Canadians were so polite. We, you know, are not competitive egomaniac monsters who fly drones over closed door practices at the Olympic games, the highest stage in sport. You know, it also, it's the women's team,

it's the darlings of the Tokyo Games, this amazing success story that comes at, you know, a rise for Canadian soccer. This is, you know, this is representing a new Canada, a more diverse Canada, a more accessible Canada. It's coming at the rise of women's sport. You know, it's really significant that heading into these games, the buzz was about Canadian women's soccer team. Like, can they defend it? This isn't a buzz about, oh, well, I hope the Canadian men's hockey team gets gold again at the Winter Olympics.

Like, this is about women. And so when all of these things are converging, it really attacks that narrative that I think a lot of people might have about Canada and about women's sport. And I think it really exposes this underbelly that maybe a lot of us were not aware of before. And Robin, you're in Paris, you're there. Have you seen, has this scandal affected international perceptions of Canada and also, I guess, perceptions of other Canadian athletes there? I don't know about other athletes, but absolutely. When people see our name, you know, you're constantly wearing a press badge around your neck at all time and it says your country on it.

And people go like in those early days, like Canada, oh, drones, eh? Like it was it really was the talk of the games. Like it was just being covered everywhere. It came up at the, you know, in press conferences that the IOC holds each day. And, you know, it really was this huge stain that has kind of marred the entire Canadian delegation that's here. Now, we are getting medals now. In some ways, the story is moving forward. You know, you have our first gold medals and those kind of more uplifting narratives that you get in

Olympic Games. But the soccer story isn't going away because one, the Canadian women are continuing to fight and are still in the competition. And two, the updates keep coming from FIFA and from Soccer Canada and from the Canadian Olympic Committee. So the story just keeps evolving as well. Just lastly, what happens now? Like when will we know more going forward here? I think there's short term things, there's long term things. Short term, let's see what happens with the Canadian women. Do they advance? Do they win their appeal? And then from there, we know we have

investigations from FIFA, we have investigations from Soccer Canada, that is going to get at the extent of Canada's drone use, spying, cheating, unethical behavior. And they're going to go backwards. And how far will this go? How many people will this involve? It's a story that is going to dominate headlines in Canadian sport for a very long time. Robin, thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. Thank you. That's it for today. I'm Mainika Raman-Wilms.

Our producers are Madeline White, Rachel Levy-McLaughlin, and Michal Stein. David Crosby edits the show. Adrienne Chung is our senior producer, and Matt Frainer is our managing editor. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.