Credit: Inside the MagicMultiple news sources report that Olympic swimmer and social media influencer Luana Alonso has been kicked out of the official Olympic Village over a forbidden visit to Disneyland Paris, but the athlete is hitting back and claiming it’s all “lies.”
Luana Alonso represented Paraguay in the 2024 Paris Olympics as a swimmer but failed to qualify past the 100m butterfly heats, ending her chances at medaling at the world’s most iconic athletic competition. She missed qualification for the semi-final by 0.24 seconds, and while that must have been a disappointment for her Paris Games, conflicting reports that she was “kicked out” of the Olympic Village, the official residence of the athletes competing in that year’s Olympics, are making things even weirder.
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After she was eliminated from the Paris Olympics, Luana Alonso announced via social media that she was retiring from competition. She said:
“I’m retiring from swimming, thank you all so much for the support!
“Sorry Paraguay, I only have to thank you!”
“I am very emotional because it was my last race. I am retiring from swimming.
“I have been swimming for so long, 18 years, and I have so many feelings.
“Unfortunately, I made the decision to stop and I am happy that my last race will be at the Olympic Games.”
To add to the controversy, it appears that swimmer Luana Alonso may have been ejected from the Village over a clandestine visit to Disneyland when she was supposed to be supporting the rest of her team. According to The Sun, following her elimination from the butterfly heats, Alonso spent the night out in Paris and visited the Disney Park. Each Olympic Games has slightly different rules about how long athletes stay in the Olympic Village. During the 2020 Tokyo Games, where Alonso competed for the first time, athletes had to leave upon elimination. The Paris Games, in contrast, allowed them to stay to support their teams.
Paraguayan Olympic Committee boss Larissa Schaerer released a statement regarding Luana Alonso, saying, “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.”
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While the Paraguayan Olympic Committee did not specify what the “inappropriate atmosphere” that the swimmer created entailed, Yahoo reports that the athlete was “also accused of distracting other competitors by socializing with other teams and wearing skimpy clothing around the village, instead of the official uniforms provided by Paraguayan team chiefs. And the trip to Disneyland was reportedly the final straw for Team Paraguay.”
Luana Alonso has denied the Disneyland allegation (via Instagram Story), stating, “I just wanted to clarify that I was never kicked out or expelled from anywhere, please stop spreading false information. I don’t want to make any statement but I’m not going to let lies affect me either.”
The former Paraguayan swimmer is reportedly returning to university in the United States, where she studied at Southern Methodist University and competed at Virginia Tech. We may never know exactly how Disneyland was involved in all the controversies at the Paris Games this year.
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