Shocking new emails reignite push for Matildas' Olympic bronze medal
The Matildas have a case to argue that why were robbed of a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, with damning new emails coming to light that may help their argument.
The scandal began when Canadian football coach Bev Priestman was removed from the team during the ongoing Paris games after Canada Soccer found evidence of drone spying ahead of the nation’s opening match against New Zealand.
Canada claimed a 2-1 win over New Zealand in their opening match, but multiple reports of drones flying over New Zealand’s practice threatened to destabilise their gold medal defence.
The drone was found to be operated by an accredited Canadian team analyst, who was taken into police custody in what he described as "the worst day of my life".
The Canadian team was stripped of six points and Priestman was sent home for the remainder of the Olympics.
Now, damning new emails have come to light about alleged previous cheating scandals after Canada protested the removal of their points.
The global sports integrity court became involved after Canada's attempt to have their points penalty reduced or lifted, which appears to have backfired as historic evidence shown in the hearing has raised suspicion the spy operation could stretch back all the way to the beginning of Priestman’s reign as coach in 2020.
This would mean that their spy tactics could have been used back in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where Canada emerged with a gold medal, as the Matildas just missed out on the podium by placing in fourth.
There has since been a push to have Canada stripped of its gold medals, which would see the Matildas elevated to the bronze medal position.
A series of damning emails have not helped Canada's position, as one exposing thread from an unnamed analyst to Priestman detailed how the analyst was not comfortable with spying.
“Moving forward I will have a discussion ... and reach out to the wider tech team with regards to how we could potentially look for other solutions,” the analyst wrote.
“But just wanted to confirm that you will not be asking me to fulfil the role of ‘spying’ in the upcoming camp and future camps. I am sure you will respect my reasoning and thank you for your understanding.”
The Canadian coach appeared to react to the email by looking for a workaround.
“Seeking your advice and input here regarding this formal email on spying,” she wrote to the redacted recipient.
“It’s something the analyst has always done and I know there is a whole operation on the Men’s side with regards to it (we had **** in with us recently and he was outstanding in this area).
“Yesterday in a meeting when discussing it, I asked to propose an alternative solution as for scouting it can be the difference between winning and losing and all top 10 teams do it."
Priestman’s comment that “spying” is something her analyst “has always done” is the most telling in backing suspicion the behaviour stretches back to Tokyo.
She issued a letter of apology on Sunday in which she admitted to being “absolutely heartbroken” and promised to cooperate with an investigation into the affair.
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