Canadian women’s soccer team seeks to downsize deduction

The Canadian women's football team has been embroiled in controversy after it was discovered that they used drones to spy on New Zealand's closed practice session in Saint-Étienne before an upcoming game last week.

Once French authorities had traced the drone back to a Canada Soccer technical analyst Joseph Lombardi, both Lombardi and assistant coach Jasmine Mander, who received the espionage report, were expelled from the games.

Canada's hopes of defending their Olympic women's football title at this summer's games were then dealt a huge blow on Saturday when FIFA decided to fine the team six points and suspend coach Beverly Priestman from any football-related activity for a year.

While accepting the fate of the suspended individuals including the "absolutely heartbroken" coach Priestman, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canada Soccer have now applied to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to either reduce the number of points deducted or cancel the deduction altogether.

The panel of arbitrators is being constituted. A hearing with the parties involved and a panel of arbitrators will now likely take place on Tuesday, 30 July 2024, before a final decision is expected to be issued the following day on Wednesday, 31 July 2024.

French athlete wrestles with rejection

Another application was submitted regarding the French wrestler Tatiana Debien. The 33-year-old Russian-born French freestyle wrestler competes in the 53kg event but failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

She has challenged the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision to deny her request for an additional quota place for France in 53kg women's wrestling. 

Debien contested the regularity of wrestling's qualifying phase alleging its non-compliance with the Olympic Charter and hopes CAS change the decision and allocate her a place in the French wrestling team.