Swimmer breaks silence as she denies being kicked out of Olympic village
Kya Buller
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@luanalonsom/Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso has hit back at accusations that she was kicked out of the 2024 Paris Olympics for creating an 'inappropriate atmosphere'.
The 20-year-old athlete has broken her silence as a result of vicious online theories about her conduct at the Games.
She has faced rumours of visiting Disneyland, as well as displaying inappropriate behaviour, including wearing inappropriate swimming gear rather than an official Olympic uniform.
Reports then emerged that she had been asked to leave the Olympic Village by Paraguay’s Olympic Committee.
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As reported by The Sun, Head of the Committee Larissa Schaerer gave the following statement: "Her presence is creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay.
"We thank her for proceeding as instructed, as it was of her own free will that she did not spend the night in the Athletes' Village."
This follows rumours that Alonso spent the night at Disneyland with friends rather than in the designated Olympics Athlete's Village.
Alongside that, there are claims she checked into a Parisian hotel and shopped in high-end stores.
Alonso has since taken to social media to break her silence and give her side of the story.
"I just wanted to clarify that I was never kicked out or expelled from anywhere, please stop spreading false information," she said.
"I don't want to make any statement but I'm not going to let lies affect me either."
Ultimately, Alonso's performance at the Olympics wasn't what Paraguay were hoping for.
She failed to progress past the women's 100m butterfly heats by just 0.24 seconds in the Summer Games campaign.
Following this, on 27 July, Alonso took to Instagram to share a drama-filled message.
With a shot of her holding her face in a swimming cap and goggles, she wrote: "It's official now! I'm retiring from swimming, thank you all so much for the support! Sorry Paraguay I only have to thank you!"
She turned off the comments after posting the picture.
Paris was Alonso's second Olympic appearance, also having competed at the delayed 2021 Tokyo Games.
One day later, on 28 July, Alonso posted another photo of her at the Games to Instagram with the conflicting caption: "Swimming: thank you for allowing me to dream, you taught me to fight, to try, perseverance, sacrifice, discipline and many more.
"I gave you part of my life and I don't change it for anything in the world because I lived the best experiences of my life, you gave me thousands of joys, friends from other countries that I will always carry in my heart.
"It's not goodbye, it's see you soon."