Swimmer removed from Olympics for creating 'inappropriate environment' made major admission before games started
It seems swimmer Luana Alonso may have riled up Paraguayan officials long before they asked her to leave the Olympic Village.
The 20-year-old, from the city of Asunción, was evicted from the residential complex in the French capital which is currently housing 14,250 athletes from around the world.
She was asked to leave the Olympic Village after being accused of creating an 'inappropriate environment' for her teammates, according to Larissa Schaerer, the head of the COP mission.
In a statement regarding Alonso's departure shared yesterday (5 August), she thanked the athlete for leaving off 'her own free will' and 'proceeding as instructed'.
Advert
The star - who announced she was retiring from swimming following her flop in the Women's 100m Butterfly heats - was initially expected to stay in the Olympic village until the competition wraps up on Sunday (11 August).
However, she was given an early check-out.
Alonso has since broken her silence on the scandal, slamming people for 'spreading false information' and insisting that 'lies' are circulating about her.
Focus has now obviously fallen on what exactly she was getting up to which resulted in her eviction - and it seems that she might have angered Paraguayan sports chiefs before even arriving in Paris.
She stated it was 'not a pleasure' to represent Paraguay, reports claim.
Alonso allegedly awkwardly told sports bigwigs in her country that she would have preferred to compete for Team USA rather than the nation which she was born in, according to local news outlet HOY.
She reportedly made the admission a short time after she qualified to compete at this year's Olympics through the universality system, which is described as a 'lifeline' for athletes from underrepresented countries.
Its purpose is to increase the diversity of participating nations in the Games.
According to the publication, Alonso allegedly said: "I want to represent the United States more.
"They threaten me that they are going to publish a statement, that I am going to leave because of universality.
"If I support my sport it is thanks to my sponsors, they want to humiliate me and say 'it is not a big deal that you are leaving because of universality'."
She reportedly went on to say that she sought solace at the university she attends in Dallas, Texas, as she preferred being there over her experience of trying to qualify at the World Aquatics Championships.
Alonso is quoted as saying: "Instead of supporting and saying 'Damn, we trust the athletes', not like 'You're going for the World Cup, we don't care', that's why it's not a pleasure to represent Paraguay and if it were up to me, I would go back to college."
In response to the resurfaced comments, the president of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee, Camilo Perez, broke her silence on the eviction saga.
Discussing Alonso's remarks, she told AS Sport: "I read that she wants to compete for the United States.
"There is no universality there. She came here as a Paraguayan. She has to train a lot more to represent USA, her times have to be much better."
Alonso also swims for the Dallas Mustangs while residing Stateside.
Although she holds the Paraguayan records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly events, the swimmer finished her heat sixth with a time of 1:03.09 and failing to qualify for the semi-finals, ending her Olympic journey.
Olivia Burke