Luana Alonso removed from Olympic Village: Swimmer ‘created inappropriate environment’ PHOTO

Luana Alonso removed from Olympic Village: Swimmer ‘created inappropriate environment’ PHOTO

Luana Alonso, a 20-year-old Paraguayan swimmer who, after being eliminated immediately in the heats of the women’s 100-meter butterfly on Saturday 27 July, surprisingly announced in tears her retirement from competition to “go study in the United States and continue my scientific career”, with the ambition of one day becoming “Minister of Sport, why not”. Now the South American country’s delegation to the Games has issued a measure, ordering Luana not to show up at the Olympic Village anymore because her presence “is creating an inappropriate environment within Team Paraguay”.

Alonso had seen her popularity explode on social media after she announced on her profiles in June that she had qualified for the Paris Olympics. The reason why the girl was ordered to be removed from the Olympic Village was explained by Larissa Schaerer, head of delegation of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee in Paris. It all started when Luana announced her retirement from competitive swimming immediately after leaving the pool, without anyone knowing anything about it: “In her statements she said she was retiring. We didn’t know, no one on the team knew, not even the coach. It’s her decision and we respect it.”

Between the afternoon and evening of that Saturday, July 27, according to Schaerer, the swimmer verbally communicated that she would leave the Olympic Village in Paris – after all, her Games were over and by her own admission she was now a former athlete – and from that moment on she would stay in a hotel in the French capital. Since she was part of an official delegation, she was asked to send an email to inform Team Paraguay of her decision so that they could receive authorization and have a formal report.

“She was authorized. She stopped being part of our delegation. The next day, Sunday, I go out of the building and meet her. I say, ‘Luana, what are you doing here?’. She was dressed in civilian clothes,” the 49-year-old delegation leader continued. Alonso explained that she had brought the headphones to her swimming teammate Matheo Mateos. Schaerer then reiterated that she could no longer enter the Village because she was no longer part of the Paraguayan delegation: “If you are part of a delegation, you have to respect the rules. I sent her an email saying that she can no longer enter the Village because she has already withdrawn.”