Featured Image Credit: Instagram/luanalonsom
Topics: Olympics, Social Media, Instagram, Sport
Joshua Nair
Topics: Olympics, Social Media, Instagram, Sport
A swimmer has been kicked out of the Paris Olympics village after she was said to be creating an 'inappropriate environment'.
Luana Alonso was part of the majority of athletes who had been staying in the Olympic Village for the duration of the games - it's where competitors from all over eat, train and spend time with each other.
However, it has recently been announced by team Paraguay that she had been asked to leave as they are no longer letting her stay until the competition closes on Sunday (11 August), as per The Daily Mail.
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Swimmer Alonso may not have performed to her best at the games, finishing sixth in her heat with a time of 1:03.09 and failing to qualify for the semi finals by a long way after swimming more than three seconds slower than her personal best.
The 20-year-old then abruptly announced her retirement from the sport on social media to her 500,000 Instagram followers.
She wrote: "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 them in my heart, unique opportunities.
"It’s not goodbye, it’s see you soon," she concluded.
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However, team Paraguay announced that due to 'inappropriate behaviour', Alonso had been kicked out of the village in the competition's final week.
Larissa Schaerer, the head of the COP mission, said: "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."
It didn't expand any further on what the 'inappropriate' behaviour was, but the 20-year-old has returned to the US, where she goes to university in Dallas, Texas.
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Alonso posted videos on her Instagram account which suggested that she touched down recently, as she could be seen driving towards a border control crossing - however, she has not yet addressed the statement.
Alonso may have had a short career, but she impressively holds the Paraguayan records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly events.
The swimmer made her Olympic debut aged just 17 at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and is one of the youngest in the sport to call their time.
After being sent several messages of support on social media, she clarified that her decision to retire had nothing to do with these games, as she made the decision 'a long time ago'.
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Speaking to Claro Sports, Alonso revealed: "People, my decision was made a long time ago! It wasn't because of the games! So nothing, I just have to thank everyone who always supported me." she said.
"It didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. I sincerely apologise to Paraguay, but I did what I could, despite several things that happened to me before. So, I’m happy and also to retire here with a full stadium and finally have the Olympic Games."
LADbible has reached out to Alonso and POC for comment.
