Olympic news: Canadian legend Christine Sinclair said Friday that national team players have never seen drone footage in her more than two decades with the team, following a spying scandal that has overshadowed Canada’s bid for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
New Zealand has complained that Canadian staff flew a drone over their training session ahead of both teams’ opening match at the Olympics, which Canada won 2-1.
The incident led to head coach Bev Priestman being suspended by Canada Soccer and sent away from the Games.
“It is a disgrace that our national team players had to endure the reprehensible actions of some of their staff members while attempting to defend our gold medal,” Sinclair, the all-time leading international goalscorer in women’s football, wrote on Instagram.
“I want to emphasize that as a national team player for 23 years, we have never seen or discussed drone footage in a team meeting or individual meeting that I have attended.”
Another Canadian legend, Stephanie Labbe, whose penalty shootout against Sweden in the Tokyo 2020 final helped her country win gold, has denied using drone footage to help her save a penalty.
“If anyone wants to talk about penalties, I study hard the day before every game,” Labbé, who will retire in 2022, wrote in X.
“I watched videos of players scoring penalties in national team and club matches. I made my own assumptions based on this information. No drone footage was watched.
“Don’t equate good goaltending with cheating.”
Article Keywords: Olympics, Canada, Christine Sinclair
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