The Paris Olympics is still in its early stages, but the Games have already been visited by controversies.

The biggest is the Canadian women’s soccer team being caught using a drone spying during a New Zealand practice. Two assistants were sent home, and head coach Bev Priestman was suspended for the opener against the Kiwis.

But, the punishment soon became more severe, Priestman was suspended for a year and the team was docked six points.

“I am absolutely heartbroken for the players, and I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the impact this situation has had on all of them,” Priestman said in a statement. “As the leader of the team on the field, I want to take accountability, and I plan to fully cooperate with the investigation.”

While the public discussion turned to whether the players, who presumably had no knowledge of the spying, should be affected this harshly, the fact remains that they will have to defeat Columbia in their final Group A game Wednesday to have any chance of advancing to the knockout rounds.

Even before the Games began, the Dutch Volleyball Association was ensnared in a furor as Steven van de Velde, who served time in prison for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, was picked to represent the county in beach volleyball.

The Dutch Olympic Committee released a statement that said, in part, “Van de Velde now meets all the qualification requirements for the Olympic Games and is therefore part of the team.”

Van de Velde was greeted by a chorus of boos as he was introduced in the Netherlands’ first match, a three-set loss against Italy on Monday. He did not speak with reporters after the contest.

On the field, the soccer competition got off to a rocky start as security became an issue after fans invaded the field during a game between Morocco and Argentina. The Moroccans took a surprise 2-1 lead, but the Argentines tied it up when fans invaded the pitch and caused a two-hour delay. After the delay, video review disallowed the goal due to offside and Morocco held on for the shock victory.

Also, Mother Nature undid what a whole lot of money tried to prevent. The French government spent more than a billion dollars in trying to clean up the pollution in the Seine River, where the start of the Triathlon and the open water competition were supposed to take place.

But the men’s triathlon, scheduled to take place Tuesday, was postponed a day due to a rise in bacteria, blamed on the heavy rain in the first two days that overwhelm the city’s antiquated sewer system, leaking untreated sewage into the Seine and hiking up rates of E. coli bacteria.

Tests taken Tuesday “revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,” according to the IOC. Officials feel that clear weather the last two days and the heavy investment will allow the competitions to take place.

With more than a week left to go, organizers hope for a smooth, controversy-free games.

Don’t bet on it.