Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso has denied reports that she has been banned from the Olympics, insisting she retired of her own volition.
Paraguayan Hoy newspaper According to reports, Alonso told fans during a live stream that she had no intention of competing for Paraguay. “I want to represent the United States more,” she was quoted as saying. Local media in the region also reported that Larissa Scherer, head of the Paraguayan delegation in Paris, had asked Alonso to leave the Olympic Village due to the way she presented herself on social media. A text message sent by Scherer to Alonso reportedly said that she was “creating an inappropriate atmosphere in the heart of Team Paraguay.”
Paraguay's Luana Alonso competes in the women's 100m butterfly event at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan on July 23, 2023. (François-Xavier Marit/AFP) (François-Xavier Marit/AFP via Getty Images)
Alonso, 20, who is regularly active on social media, insisted she had not been asked to step down from the Olympics. The Texas-born athlete tearfully announced she was retiring from swimming for good after losing in the heats of the women's 100m butterfly. The Daily Beast.
During her time in Paris, she regularly posted selfies to social media, mostly in which she posed in skimpy bikinis, showing off her perfectly toned body to her nearly 750,000 fans.
Despite retiring from competition, Alonso continued to attend the Olympic Village. She stayed in Paris and enjoyed a day at Disneyland Paris before deciding to leave the French capital.
The player has since returned to Texas, where he attends Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and has shared details of the incident on social media.
“I just wanted to make it clear that I have never been excluded or banned from anywhere. Please stop spreading misinformation,” she wrote in an Instagram Story on Monday.
“I don't want to say anything, but I'm not going to be swayed by lies either,” she said.
Hoy reported that tensions between Alonso and team representatives arose because Alonso claimed he had qualified for the Paris Olympics of his own volition, despite only qualifying under the IOC's “universality” rules, which allow extra places for teams with athletes who do not meet the Olympic qualification criteria. (Related: Olympic swimmer Tamara Potocka collapses immediately after race, medical staff rush to her aid)
The extra attention helped Alfonso's social media accounts gain 250,000 followers in one week, according to The Daily Beast.
