Luana Alonso, a 20-year-old Paraguayan swimmer and social media influencer with nearly 500,000 Instagram followers, was allegedly expelled from the Olympic Village.
Alonso completed her Olympics program without progressing past the 100m butterfly heats and announced her retirement after failing to reach the semi-finals by a narrow margin. She continued sightseeing and socializing in the next days, wearing her own designed outfits instead of the team uniform, and left to visit Disneyland during her teammates' competitions.
According to some reports, this led to her expulsion from the Olympic Village as requested by the Paraguayan Olympic Committee for breaching athlete conduct.
Alonso denied being expelled or kicked out.
The head of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee acknowledged her cooperation in leaving the Village voluntarily, stating her stay was not continued due to her behavior. The reason for her removal was not officially explained.
She shared pictures of her stay in France before returning to the US, where she is studying political science.
Before the Olympics, Alonso hinted that the Paris Games would be her last. She gained attention for her tattoo of the Olympic rings on her hip and had a successful 2023 season, setting career bests in butterfly events and competing in NCAA championships.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq
Sources: Newsweek, Nicki Swift, Yahoo Sports, Nine, Queen, Cumhuriyet, El Español, Sportbible, LADbible, Graphic, Fanatik, Ensonhaber, 20 Minutos, Onet, E! Online, India Times, Daily Mail, TMZ, The Mirror, Express, The Sun, Bleacher Report, El Mundo, New York Post.