Luana Alonso has been making all kinds of headlines at the Olympics in Paris — but it has little to do with her actual performance.
The Paraguayan swimmer has been enjoying the spotlight and has been posting snaps on social media from all over the City of Lights. But there’s now one place where she is no longer welcome: The Olympic Village.
According to Larissa Schaerer, the head of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee, Alonso was “creating an inappropriate atmosphere” around the team and was asked to leave the athletes’ dorms.
“Her presence is creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay,” Schaerer said in a statement.
“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.”
It appears that Alonso took the instructions to heart and left France. She posted a video earlier on Monday while riding in a car, approaching what appeared to be a U.S. border crossing.
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Alonso, 20, competed in the women’s 100-metre butterfly on July 27, but finished sixth in her heat with a time of one minute 3.09 seconds — much slower than her time at the Tokyo Games three years ago — and didn’t qualify for the semifinals.
After getting bounced, she abruptly announced her retirement from competitive swimming on her Instagram account.
“It’s official! I’m retiring from swimming, thank you all so much for your support!” Alonso wrote. “Sorry Paraguay. I just have to say thank you!”
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She also shared an emotional message in a follow-up post.
“Swimming: Thank you for allowing me to dream, you taught me to fight, to try, perseverance, sacrifice, discipline and many more things,” she wrote, including several photos of her competing at the Games this year.
“I gave you part of my life and I wouldn’t change that 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.”
Alonso didn’t pack up and leave France, though, since her retirement. And instead of being a team player and cheering on her compatriots, she opted instead to visit Disneyland Paris – which upset the country’s Olympic leadership.
Alonso had garnered quite a bit of attention heading into the Summer Games, going viral for posting a picture of a tattoo on her hip of the Olympic rings after qualifying for Paris.
She has also shared many steamy swimwear shots with about 560,000 followers on Instagram.