Olympic athlete who was sent home after 'trying to break major rule' with boyfriend speaks out
Brazilian swimmer Ana Carolina Vieira has broken her silence after having been sent home from the Paris games after being caught trying to sneak out.
Vieira and her teammate and boyfriend Gabriel Santos were found trying to leave the Olympic Village, which led to the Brazilian Olympic Committee confirming that there would be repercussions.
According to the statements, the two swimmers had left the village, where most athletes for the Paris Games are staying, without their team's knowledge.
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This led the Committee, the Technical Commission of the sport, the Team Leader and Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports (CBDA), to come up with a punishment.
The CBDA and the COB went on to decide to give them a warning, however according to the CBDA, athlete Ana Carolina was allegedly disrespectful and aggressive when she opposed the decision, which led to her being sent back to Brazil.
The statement read: "The athlete Ana Carolina, in a disrespectful and aggressive manner, contested a technical decision made by the Brazilian National Swimming Team committee. As a result, Gabriel Santos was given a warning and Ana Carolina Vieira was dismissed from the delegation. She will return to Brazil immediately."
Now, she’s speaking out via her Instagram Stories.
In the three clips, she claimed to have done nothing wrong and to have filed a complaint of harassment with the COB, which she said was allegedly ignored.
Vieira also claims she left the village without getting the chance to gather her belongings, saying: “I left there and left my materials, I didn’t know what to do.”
“My things are there [in the Olympic Village], I went to the airport in shorts. I had to open my suitcase at the airport. I’m in Portugal, I’m going to Recife and then to São Paulo.
“I am helpless, I have had no access to anything, I have not been able to speak to anyone. They told me to contact the COB channels. But how am I going to get in touch?
“I have already filed a complaint of harassment and nothing has been resolved, harassment within the team”
She added: “I will speak to my lawyers. I promise to tell everything. I am sad, nervous, but with a peace of mind because I know who I am, I know what my character and my nature are.
“I hope to be able to defend Brazilian women’s swimming with great pride. I ask for patience, thank you.”
According to UOL, the COB is now investigating the complaint of harassment.
Gustavo Otsuka, Brazil's swimming team leader explained the decision and why her behaviour isn’t acceptable to Reuters.
He said: "We're not here playing or taking a vacation.
“We're here working for Brazil, for the 200 million taxpayers who are working for us. We can't play around here.
"She took a completely inappropriate position to make her point, her dismay, about the formation of the relay.”
He went on to share that it was her alleged aggressive manner that ultimately was her downfall and had her kicked out of the Olympics.
Otsuka continued: "It was during this period that we decided to take this situation to the disciplinary committee, discussed it and took the appropriate action. We ended up finding out through the posts.”
Santos had apparently been eliminated in the heats of the men's 4x100 freestyle and was reprimanded after apologising - with no further action being taken against him, it has been confirmed.
Tyla has contacted the Brazilian Olympic Committee for comment.
The most bizarre, discontinued Olympic sports
Painting
Back in the day, the Olympics dished out medals for art too, with events including painting and sculpture, as well as music, architecture and even literature.
Making its debut all the way back at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and continuing until the 1948 London games, juries awarded competitors a total of 151 medals for artistic projects inspired by sport.
Tug of War
Bet you didn't think this playground classic was once part of the Olympics, did you?
Well, it turns out not only was the sport popular, but it stirred up a lot of drama too - with accusations of foul play flying around at the 1908 Olympics in London, with Team USA accusing Team GB of cheating due to their 'illegal' heavy footwear.
A mainstay for around five Olympic games from 1900 to 1920, Tug of War enthusiasts have even campaigned for organisers to reintroduce the retired sport back into the Games.
Hot Air Balloon Racing
Launching at the 1900 Olympics, hot air balloon drivers would compete in races scoring how far they could travel, altitude reached, ability to land within the correct coordinates and - to top it all off - who got the best photo from the balloon.
The sport ended up being canned after a ban on motorised sports was brought in.
Live Pigeon Shooting
Also making its debut at the 1900 Olympics, the event was pretty self explanatory - a load of pigeons were released into the air as the competitor tried to shoot as many as possible. Grim.
The event only appeared at the Games once, and all in all, it's estimated that Olympic hopefuls killed around 300 pigeons.
Pistol Duelling
It doesn't take much guessing as to why this event was scrapped, but back in 1906, people clearly didn't bat an eyelid at competitors waving pistols around and shooting at each other.
It began with competitors shooting at dummies, but two years later organisers decided to shake things up and have them shoot at each other with wax bullets. Ouch.
1908 would be the last time the sport was included in the Olympics, so I'm guessing they quickly realised it was a bad idea - wax bullets or not.
Britt Jones