An Olympic swimmer has been asked to leave the Paris 2024 Games early under some unusual circumstances.
20-year-old Paraguyan swimmer Luana Alonso has had a turbulent Games so far, having failed to qualify for the final in the women’s 100-metre butterfly event and subsequently announcing her retirement from the sport.
On Sunday, things got a little more strange as a statement from Paraguay Olympic Committee GM Larissa Schaerer stated that Alonso’s presence at the Games was “creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay” and she was reportedly told to fly home.
A report from The Sun alleges that Alonso snuck out of the Olympic Village earlier in the Games to spend a night out at Disneyland Paris, though the reason for Alonso’s dismissal was not made clear in Schaerer’s statement.
Alonso seems to have heeded this as she posted an Instagram story earlier today showing her in the United States at SMU in Texas, where she is currently going to school.
@luanalonsom/Instagram
Alonso also competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, at the age of 17, where she finished 28th in the 100-metre butterfly.
The Paraguayan swimmer is immensely popular on social media, having amassed an astounding 554,000 followers on Instagram and 487,000 followers on TikTok.
This is not the first instance of an athlete being told to leave the Olympics after inappropriate behaviour. Just last week, a Brazillian swimmer named Ana Carolina Vieira was expelled from the Games after she snuck out of the Olympic Village to spend a night with her boyfriend.
Further, athletes have also not been too incredibly happy with the housing arrangements in Paris. An Italian swimmer was spotted napping in a nearby park over the weekend and took to social media to complain about the quality of food provided to the athletes and the lack of air conditioning in the village.
Athletes have also been provided with beds constructed out of cardboard, something a few Canadian Olympians tested out in a now-viral Tik Tok video.
While it’s not the fairytale ending for Alonso’s swimming career, it doesn’t seem like she will be inconvenienced all that much by leaving a bit early. She competed in all her events already and had nothing more to do in Paris for the remainder of the Games.