Canada soccer great Christine Sinclair said on Friday national team players were never shown drone footage during the more than two decades she was on the team, following a spying scandal that cast a shadow over the Canadians at the Paris Games.
New Zealand complained that Canada staff flew drones over their training sessions before their opening fixture at the Olympics, which the Canadians won 2-1.
The incident caused head coach Bev Priestman to be suspended by Canada Soccer, the sport's national governing body, and sent home from the Games.
"It's unfortunate that the players from our national team have had to play through condemnable actions by some of their staff as they attempt to defend our gold medal," Sinclair, soccer's all-time leading international scorer, wrote on Instagram.
"I want to be clear that having been a national team player for 23 years, we were never shown or discussed drone footage in team or individual meetings I've been present for."
Retired Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe, whose shootout heroics against Sweden in the Tokyo final helped Canada win gold, denied she had used drone footage to help her save penalty kicks (pks).
"If anyone wants to speak about pks, I studied HARD the night before every match," Labbe, who retired in 2022, posted on X.
"Watched video of players taking pks in national team and club games. Made my own educated guesses based on that info. NO DRONE FOOTAGE was watched.
"Do not confuse great goalkeeping with cheating."
Sinclair, who was also part of the gold medal-winning team in Tokyo, retired from international soccer last year after winning 331 caps and scoring 190 goals.
Meanwhile, former Canada women’s soccer team manager John Herdman confident that his teams did not spy with drones.
Herdman said news that Team Canada staff used a drone to spy on an opponent's practice was "a surprise and a shock," and he is "highly confident" that such practices did not occur under his watch.
Herdman said he would cooperate with Canada Soccer's internal review of drone spying allegations that led to Canadian women's manager Bev Priestman's suspension from the Paris Games and cast the reigning Olympic champions' title defence in an unsavory light.
But Herdman declined to provide details of his experiences managing Canada's national teams from 2011 until his departure to coach Toronto FC in 2023.
