A Paraguayan swimmer has been removed from the athlete village at the Paris Olympics after being accused of creating an “inappropriate atmosphere”.
Luana Alonso, who announced her retirement aged only 20, having failed to qualify from her heat last week in the 100-metres butterfly, is understood to have left Paris after being suspended from the village.
The swimmer, who has more than half a million followers on Instagram, posted an update on the social media site which indicated she has since returned to the United States. In the clip, Alfonso can be seen driving towards a border control crossing.
News of Alfonso’s removal from the village had been shrouded in secrecy after Paraguay’s Olympic chief did not elaborate on what her inappropriate behaviour was in a vaguely worded statement.
Larissa Schaerer, a former tennis player who represented Paraguay at the 1992 Olympics, 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.”
Athletes can choose whether to stay at the Olympic village, which accommodates around 14,250 competitors at the Games.
Alonso had an underwhelming Olympics after finishing sixth in her heat — 0.24 seconds behind fifth-placed Georgia’s Ana Nizharadze — to miss out narrowly on the semi-finals.
She then dramatically announced her retirement but remained in Paris after her competition.
Alonso said: “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 in my heart, unique opportunities. It’s not goodbye, it’s see you soon.”
The village is located on three sites across Paris’s northern suburbs, namely, Saint-Denis, Saint Ouen and L’Île-Saint-Denis.
Up to 60,000 meals are served each day across the sites, while a medical clinic is available at all times for the athletes.
Source Agencies
