Swimmer sent home for breaking athletes' village rules with boyfriend speaks out after having 'Olympic dream destroyed'
Ana Carolina Vieira, who was sent home from this summer's games for violating Olympic Village rules, has posted an update video online.
The Olympian took to Instagram for the first time since arriving back in her native Brazil, addressing comments she's received on social media about her exclusion from the games after leaving the village with her boyfriend.
Vieira left the village with her boyfriend Gabriel Santos, also a swimmer competing in the Olympics.
However, he received a warning and was allowed to stay, while the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) decided to send her home.
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The couple were found to have left the village without permission, as they wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower.
In her latest video, Vieira has explained her side of the story a bit more.
She captioned the video: "How a communication failure destroyed my Olympic dream. Discipline, determination and education are my pillars as a high performance athlete."
Translated from Brazilian Portuguese, she starts by saying: "Hey guys, I've been getting lots of bad messages but mostly good messages off people that support me - I'm OK, I'm well.
"I'm as well as I can be right now, because what's happening to me right now is really sad, but everything is going to be resolved at the right moment. I live for the sport, I'm a high performance athlete so it's a very delicate moment for me."
Vieira continued: "Since I was a child, I learnt hierarchy, respect, merit and politeness because my parents come from a military background. I'm already training again and I have a competition coming up, I need to compete again.
"I'm very sad of the way I got (kicked) out of the Olympic games. I was going to swim another time. But I'm going to continue to support the Brazilian team that's competing."
This update follows the last video that she posted on Monday (29 July), in a video posted on her Instagram, where a tearful and upset Vieira has explained her side of the story.
She said: "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."
She added: "I had to open my suitcase at the airport. I'm in Portugal. I'm going to Recife and then to Sao 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 also revealed she is planning legal action when she returns home, as she continued: "I will speak to my lawyers. I promise to tell everything. I am sad, nervous, but with 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 and thank you."
A statement on the situation said: "The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) received this Saturday, 27 July, a statement from the Head of the Brazilian Swimming Team, Gustavo Otsuka, with the information that swimmers Ana Carolina Vieira and Gabriel Santos committed acts of indiscipline.
"With this, in common agreement with the members of the Technical Committee of the sport, with the Team Leader and with the Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports (CBDA), the COB decided to punish the two athletes for having left the Olympic Village without authorization last Friday.
"In addition to this fact, the athlete Ana Carolina, in a disrespectful and aggressive manner, contested the technical decision taken by the Brazilian Swimming Team committee.
"Thus, athlete Gabriel Santos was punished with a warning and athlete Ana Carolina Vieira was punished with removal from the delegation.
"She will return to Brazil immediately."
Topics: Olympics, Instagram, Social Media, Sport
Joshua Nair