Canada claim they are not “cheaters” as they fight the sanctions handed down to them while keeping their Olympic medal hopes alive in the women’s football tournament at the Paris Olympics.
After having six points deducted when it was revealed they had used a drone camera to spy on opposition New Zealand’s training session, they are still a chance to progress to the knockout stages after downing New Zealand and then scoring a 2-1 win over France.
Canadian captain Vanessa Gilles, who scored the winning goal in the comeback victory over the host nation, was emotional after the game and admitted she nearly broke her hand when she punched a wall when she was informed of the sanctions handed down to her team.
“We’re not part of any of this, and we’re getting sanctioned as if we just got caught doping,” she claimed.
“We did nothing. We’re just so tired of defending ourselves over something we have no control over. It’s been 72 hours where we have no control over anything.
“We got no advantage. We go out there, we play our hearts out, we work for this all year round, day in and day out.”
Veteran teammate Jessie Fleming, who scored the earlier goal, added: “It feels like us against the world right now.”
Canada have appealed the six-point penalty handed down by FIFA.
The Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer have filed their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Their appeal claims the penalty “unfairly punishes the athletes for actions they had no part in and goes far beyond restoring fairness to the match against New Zealand”.
A hearing is set to take place before their final pool game on Wednesday against Colombia.
If the Canadians win that game then they will advance past the group stage even if their appeal is unsuccessful.
The drama stems from an incident last week when the NZ team noticed a drone flying above their practice session and they informed local police, who traced the device to its operator who turned out to be none other than an analyst for Canada’s team. Joseph Lombardi.
Canada’s sports minister Carla Qualtrough issed a swift rebuke to Canada Soccer after coach Bev Priestman was one of three team officials who received a one-year ban.
“There is a deeply concerning pattern of behaviour at Canada Soccer,” Qualtrough said. “We must, and will, get to the bottom of this. The government of Canada will closely monitor the investigation and outcomes of the Canada Soccer process that is underway.”
The Roarhttps://www.theroar.com.au/2024/07/30/were-not-cheaters-us-against-the-world-canada-still-in-medal-hunt-after-launching-appeal-over-drone-sanctions/‘We’re not cheaters, us against the world’: Canada still in medal hunt after launching appeal over drone sanctions
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