Glamourous Olympics swimmer Luana Alonso is REMOVED from the athletes village as Paraguay blame her for creating an ‘inappropriate environment’
One of the Olympic Games’ most glamorous stars has been removed from the official athletes’ village after allegedly creating an “inappropriate environment”.
Athletes participating in the Games settle in the village, where participants can train, eat and relax together.
However, Team Paraguay have asked one of their stars to leave the village after they refused to let him stay until the end of the competition, which officially closes on Sunday, August 11.
Swimmer Luana Alonso performed exceptionally well at the Games, finishing sixth in the 100-meter butterfly, 0.24 seconds behind Georgia’s Ana Nizharadze. She narrowly missed qualifying for the semi-finals of the event.
She then sensationally announced her retirement from swimming in a social media post to her nearly 500,000 Instagram followers. She has since lived in Paris.
Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso has been removed from the official athletes’ village
Alonso allegedly ‘created an inappropriate environment’, leading to her removal
Alonso, pictured during the opening ceremony, has almost 500,000 followers on Instagram
The 20-year-old has since retired from swimming after finishing sixth in her only swimming event at the Games
Alonso (pictured left before her race) narrowly missed out on qualifying for the semi-finals of the 100m butterfly
Now the Paraguayan team has removed the 20-year-old player from the athletes’ village, citing Alonso’s “inappropriate behaviour” as justification for the decision, as the Olympic Games enter their final week.
The statement did not elaborate on what her inappropriate behavior entailed.
Larissa Schaerer, head of the COP mission, said: ‘Her presence creates an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay.
“We thank her for acting according to instructions, as it was her own free will not to spend the night in the athletes’ village.”
Alonso’s Instagram story revealed that she has since flown back to the United States, where she attends school, after posting a short video on social media showing herself driving to a border crossing.
Alonso confirmed her retirement with this message she posted on Instagram
Alonso ran into Rafael Nadal (right) during the matches and shared a snap of the pair on X
The Paraguayan star started swimming at a young age and first competed when he was 11 years old
The swimmer was not allowed by her team to remain in the athletes’ village until the end of the Games
Alonso previously competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to COVID
The Paraguayan made her Olympic debut in Tokyo four years ago and is one of the youngest athletes to retire at the age of 20.
Alonso confirmed her retirement last week, saying: ‘Swimming: thank you for making me dream. You taught me to fight, to try, perseverance, sacrifice, discipline and much more.
‘I gave you a part of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world, because I’ve had the best experiences of my life. You’ve given me thousands of joys, friends from other countries that I’ll always carry in my heart, unique opportunities.
“It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.”
Earlier last week she posted a photo on her X account with Rafael Nadal.
Alonso received a lot of compliments on social media after the news of her retirement, but in an interview with Claro Sports she made it clear that she had made the decision a long time ago.
In an Instagram story on Sunday night, she confirmed that she flew to the United States
‘Guys, my decision has been made a long time ago! It wasn’t because of the games! Nothing, I just have to thank everyone who has always supported me.
“It didn’t go the way I wanted. I sincerely apologize to Paraguay, but I did what I could, despite several things that happened to me before. So I’m happy and also happy that I can retire here with a full stadium and finally have the Olympic Games.”
Alonso previously competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo at the age of 17.
The 20-year-old also competed at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary and the South American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay, that same year.
She attends Southern Methodist University near Dallas, Texas, and also swims for the Dallas Mustangs.