Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Donna Spencer, Published July 24, 2024

Canada’s team is poised for a banner Olympic Games in Paris despite safe-sport and financial turmoil since a record performance in Tokyo.

“I believe this is as strong a Team Canada that we’ve ever seen at the Summer Games,” said Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker.

“I think the world needs these Olympic Games. I think Canada needs these Olympic Games. We need something to cheer for. We need to instil pride in flag and country and I can’t think of an Olympic team that’s better situated to do that than this one.”

Preliminary competition got underway Wednesday in Paris ahead of Friday’s opening ceremonies that will feature a parade of countries on the River Seine. Decorated sprinter Andre De Grasse and weightlifting champion Maude Charron were named Canada’s flag-bearers Wednesday.

With no entries in men’s soccer or men’s rugby sevens Wednesday, the first Canadians to compete will be archers and the women’s soccer team Thursday, when the latter opens defence of its gold medal against New Zealand in St-Etienne.

But the women’s soccer team will be minus head coach Bev Priestman for the opener. She voluntarily removed herself Wednesday in the fallout from a team staff member filming a pair of New Zealand practices with a drone.

Assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi were ousted from the team in Paris and sent home.

Canadian athletes claimed 24 medals in Tokyo in 2021 for the most at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics despite months of pandemic pivots in their preparation, and in a Games held in a state of emergency because of a coronavirus spike. Canada’s seven gold medals equalled the most at a non-boycotted Games.

“We always go to every Games with a goal of doing better than we did the Games before,” said Own The Podium CEO Anne Merklinger.

“We’re well positioned as a country heading into Paris. We have a deeper athlete pool, we have more events with a strong athlete pool and we have more sports.”

There’s also fewer Russian competitors. Only those who can prove to the International Olympic Committee they do not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be allowed to compete in Paris as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs).

2) Andre De Grasse, Maude Charron picked as Canada’s flag-bearers at Paris Olympics

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff

Decorated sprinter Andre De Grasse and Olympic weightlifting champion Maude Charron, shown in these recent file photos, will carry Canada’s flag into the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on Friday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn, Christinne Muschi

Decorated sprinter Andre De Grasse and weightlifting champion Maude Charron couldn’t resist the chance to carry Canada’s flag into such a unique opening ceremonies of an Olympic Games.

De Grasse of Markham, Ont., and Charron of Rimouski, Que., will bear the Maple Leaf on a boat on the River Seine in Paris on Friday, instead of leading Canada in the traditional athlete parade into a host city stadium.

“It’s wild. It’s crazy,” De Grasse said.

De Grasse of Markham, Ont., won gold in the men’s 200 metres in Tokyo three years ago and owns six Olympic medals to make him Canada’s most decorated man in Summer Olympic Games history.

Charron of Rimouski, Que., captured weightlifting gold in the women’s 64-kilogram division in Tokyo.

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced its flag-bearer selections Wednesday, although both athletes had known for a few days. They had to keep it secret from all but their inner circle.

“I feel like saying thank you is not enough,” Charron said. “From all of the great athletes we have, they only pick two. It’s just crazy. 

“Everybody should be able to hold the flag for a second. Everybody has a story to tell. I’ll do my best, as always, to represent the country that helped me so much to become the person that I am today. With De Grasse, it’s just going to be amazing.”

De Grasse will compete in his third Olympic Games and Charron her second, but both will participate in their first opening ceremonies Friday at 7:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. ET).

“It’s going to just motivate me,” said De Grasse. “It’s going to give me that extra boost that I need to go out there and make my country proud.

“Going to my third Olympic Games, having this opportunity I probably never thought I’d have, it’s a dream come true for me.”

3) Soccer coach Priestman to miss opener, two staffers sent home after drone incidents

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff

Canadian women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman removed herself from Thursday’s Olympic Games opener against New Zealand and two team staff members were sent home after two drone incidents.

Assistant coach Jasmine Mander and Canada Soccer analyst Joseph Lombardi were ousted from the soccer team’s staff, the Canadian Olympic Committee said Wednesday in a statement in which it accepted Priestman’s decision to not coach the opener in Saint-Etienne, France.

The shakeup came after the COC’s review of a drone incidents in Saint-Etienne. There were reports that drones flew over New Zealand’s practice sessions both Monday and last Friday.

“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program,” Priestman said in Wednesday’s statement. “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.”

“On behalf of our entire team, I first and foremost want to apologize to the players and staff at New Zealand Football and to the players on Team Canada. This does not represent the values that our team stands for.”

The COC also said that Canada Soccer staff will be required to undergo mandatory ethics training.

Canada is the defending Olympic champion in women’s soccer after capturing gold three years ago in Tokyo. New Zealand is ranked 28th in the world.

New Zealand’s Olympic Committee alerted police after a drone was flown over the women’s soccer team practice Monday, and the COC confirmed Tuesday that a “non-accredited” member of Canada’s soccer team staff was detained by French authorities.

The NZOC also registered a complaint with the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit and had asked Canada for a full review.

The COC apologized to the NZOC and that country’s soccer federation, stating it was “shocked and disappointed” over the conduct.

It’s not the first time a Canadian soccer team has been involved in a drone controversy involving an international rival’s training session.

In 2021 at Toronto, Honduras stopped a training session ahead of its men’s World Cup qualifier against Canada after spotting a drone above the field, according to reports in Honduran media. The teams played to a 1-1 draw.

French security forces guarding Paris 2024 sites are intercepting an average of six drones per day, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Tuesday.

Attal added the drones are often operated by “individuals, maybe tourists wanting to take pictures.”

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

“Systems are in place to allow us to very quickly intercept (drones) and arrest their operators.”

4) Canada Soccer head investigating ‘systemic ethical shortcoming’ amid spying scandal

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Gregory Strong

Canada Soccer chief executive officer Kevin Blue said he was investigating a potential “systemic ethical shortcoming” within the program but has not considered pulling the women’s soccer team from the Paris Olympics due to a drone spying scandal.

Blue appeared on a 30-minute video call with media on Friday, hours after the federation suspended head coach Bev Priestman from the Games.

The defending Olympic champs defeated New Zealand 2-1 on Thursday, a day after two Canadian staff members were sent home after reports a drone was used to spy on New Zealand practices on two occasions before the tournament opener.

Blue said he has not considered a team withdrawal, primarily because “we feel like we have addressed the situation swiftly and significantly.”

“It would be to the detriment of our players who have worked so hard and sacrificed quite a bit to be Olympians and (they) have not engaged in unethical behaviour,” Blue said. “I will not consider us withdrawing on the basis of the fact that we support our players as Olympians and their right to be here and their right to compete.”

Earlier, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO David Shoemaker said Priestman was likely aware drones were used to spy on the opposing team’s training sessions in France.

“One of the key pieces of information was the conclusion from Canada Soccer that she needed to be suspended, based on their accumulation of facts,” Shoemaker said at a news conference at Canada Olympic House in Paris.

“I’ve seen some of them, some of the information they have, and we’ve gathered some additional information ourselves that made me conclude that she was highly likely to have been aware of the incident here in Saint-Etienne.”

Priestman voluntarily removed herself from the opening game at Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium. She’d said the previous day she didn’t direct individuals to spy on New Zealand and was “highly disappointed” to learn of it.

Shoemaker said Wednesday he was persuaded that Priestman had “no involvement, no knowledge of the incident,” but his opinion later changed.

The decision to kick Priestman out of the Games was made on Blue’s recommendation, who stated in a release Friday that more information had recently come to light about previous incidents of drone spying predating the Paris Games.

Blue has pledged an independent review of the situation.

“We imposed the ultimate sanction the Canadian Olympic Committee can impose, bearing in mind that we oversee soccer players and the staff for this limited window with the Olympic Games, in removing them from the Olympic team, including the head coach, and sending them home,” Shoemaker said.

“The most important piece of information that I learned was that, in the interim 24 hours that the CEO of Canada Soccer had been on the ground in Saint-Etienne, he came to the conclusion that Bev Priestman needed to be suspended. We have seen some of that information. We fully support that it’s the right decision under the circumstances.”

Canada’s second game is against host France on Sunday in St-Etienne. Shoemaker also said he’s comfortable with the defending women’s soccer champions continuing to compete in the Games.

However, FIFA’s disciplinary committee is looking into the matter, and the gold medal that Canada won on penalty kicks against Sweden in Tokyo is now under scrutiny. Priestman was Canada’s head coach there, too.

“There now appears to be information that could tarnish that Olympic performance in Tokyo,” Shoemaker said.

“It makes me ill. It makes me sick to my stomach to think that there could be something that calls into question … one of my favourite Olympic moments in history, that women’s team winning that gold medal against all odds in COVID restrictions.”

Shoemaker acknowledged the scandal impacted Canada’s image to start the Summer Games in Paris, but hoped it wouldn’t detract from what is expected to be a strong performance by the team as a whole.

“Subsequent findings involving individuals at Canada Soccer have been not only incredibly disturbing, but also all encompassing for us these last few days,” said COC president and Olympic rower Tricia Smith at the news conference.

“What we saw this week is not my experience of sport in Canada. It’s not who we are.”

Soccer’s misconduct overshadowed both the COC’s announcement Wednesday of flag-bearers Maude Charron and Andre De Grasse for the opening ceremonies, and also Friday’s ribbon-cutting to open Canada Olympic House.

“It’s sad. It’s surprising,” said Charron, who won a weightlifting Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. “In my sport, we’re doing a lot of work to stay true and play fair. Every sport has different technique to do or different strategies. My job here as an athlete stays the same.

“I guess it stresses more a bit the athletes in soccer. But I can’t talk for them. I can only talk for me.”

— With files from Gemma Karstens-Smith and Donna Spencer in Paris.