Spying at Canada Soccer | ‘It makes me sick’

(Paris) The scandal surrounding the women’s soccer team took up almost the entire inaugural press conference of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) on Friday morning, a few hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games.

In an at times emotional tone, the organization’s top leaders and spokespeople leading the delegation of some 900 people condemned the actions alleged against Canada Soccer coaches and promised their full cooperation in shedding light on the affair, including alleged spying during Canada’s gold medal run at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, as revealed by TSN on Thursday evening.

The committee’s top official recalled that the women’s team’s surprise victory in Japan was “one of his all-time favorite Olympic moments.”

“There now appears to be information that could tarnish this Olympic performance in Tokyo. It makes me sick, it makes me nauseous to think that there could be something that calls that into question.”

TSN’s investigation led Canada Soccer to remove head coach Bev Priestman and the COC to exclude her from the Paris Games, the “ultimate sanction” for the committee, which only has authority over delegation members during the Olympic fortnight.

“Informed” of “certain information” by Canada Soccer in the previous 24 hours, the COC “fully supports” the federation’s decision to suspend the head coach, “which is the right one in the circumstances.”

Mr. Shoemaker, who himself addressed the issue in his inaugural statement, insisted that the values ​​of “openness and transparency” that guided his six-year term would not be “sacrificed.”

” In some cases [cela signifie] “to spread information that may even be detrimental to our athletes, our teams and our coaches, any member of the Olympic team. Even though I don’t like the potential negative consequences, which have surely already happened, that cannot be the guiding principle.”

“We’ve talked for years about the importance of winning the right way,” he added. “When we had a limited opportunity with the soccer team, we have to get the message across that winning the right way is the only way, that sportsmanship is the only way.”

Negative and positive

President Tricia Smith said the actions of Canada Soccer coaches did not represent “the game we know in Canada.”

“That’s why when we learn about these things, it’s an opportunity to address them,” the former rower said at the Montreal Olympics. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword. It’s almost like when we started catching dopers versus not catching dopers. It’s a negative story, but also a positive story. When we find out about these issues, we take action like we did here and will continue to do.”

At the conference table, faces were long and smiles absent.

Sports chief Eric Myles was particularly moved when he spoke of this “unique opportunity” to experience the Games in a French-speaking country as a Quebecer and a Canadian.

“I’ve been working on this for six years, it’s my little piece, but the athletes have worked their whole lives to get here,” he stressed, assuring that the COC was prepared to face this kind of crisis.

“We have moved heaven and earth in the last three days to support the soccer team, but also to prepare our world.”

Eric Myles hopes that the unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine will be a unifying experience that will allow us to “get going for real” on Saturday, particularly with the entrance on stage of swimmer Summer McIntosh. “It will go well,” he hoped.

The sports chief is not worried that Canada will be seen as a country of cheats in the international community.

“Canada is recognized as a truly just country. Our history has demonstrated this for years. When there have been times [difficiles]we have always stood up. I look at the leadership around the table and all these millions invested in recent years in safe sport, mental health, all these things, these are values ​​that matter to us. They are real and integrated. In the longer term, I believe that this event will perhaps represent a turning point to improve things.

“I was a victim of this”

For his part, Bruny Surin admitted that this week’s controversy was what he feared most upon arriving in Paris as chef de mission for the Canadian team.

“We made decisions from day one, we made the right decisions to say that we do not accept this kind of behavior. I am with [le COC] 100% on that.”

The former sprinter recalled how the scandal of Ben Johnson’s positive test in 1988 in Seoul, where he was competing in the long jump, had affected him, urging the media to exercise discernment.

“Yes, there was this incident, but there are also all the other athletes,” he stressed. “We must not penalize them either. If we just talk about this and focus on it during the whole Games, the other athletes will pay the price. Yes, you do your job now, but don’t forget the other athletes.”

Surin solemnly added: “I’ve been a victim of this, personally. For years. It’s not fair.”

Integrity

Still reeling from the emotion of her selection as flag bearer with Andre De Grasse, Maude Charron was circumspect about the scandal.

“It’s unfortunate, but in my sport, we work to maintain the integrity of the sport, to stay clean and close to our values ​​as athletes, to play by the rules,” said the Olympic weightlifting champion, who arrived in Paris the day before.

“I find that in Canada, we put the emphasis on that, on being fair to everyone, on returning to who we are as a person, as a human being. […] My job here is to carry the flag and compete in weightlifting. It doesn’t change what I have to do.”

The athlete from Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer, in the Lower St. Lawrence, was not able to say whether Canada’s image would suffer. “Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it. I imagine it’s a greater stress for the female soccer players, obviously, but I can’t speak for them.”