A swimmer who was reportedly axed from Paraguay’s Olympic Village facilities has claimed that she will return to the sport next year. Luana Alonso is said to have been sent home due to her behaviour in Paris.
The row started after Alonso abruptly retired following her failure to qualify for the women’s 100m butterfly race. She did not make the semi-finals, finishing 0.24 seconds behind Georgia’s Ana Nizharadze. The 21-year-old retired almost immediately after, which Paraguayan Olympic officials say they did not anticipate. Alonso was accused of not meeting the “parameters of a high-performance athlete”.
Alonso has not competed since but says she could return to the sport next year. One of her Instagram followers asked if she will return.
“Next year I’m coming back, but I don’t know if I will be back to competitive swimming,” Alonso responded.
The swimmer caused consternation by retiring abruptly after her race in the heats in Paris. She said in an interview at the time: “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.
“It didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. I sincerely apologise to Paraguay, but I did what I could, despite several things that happened to me before. So, I’m happy and also to retire here with a full stadium and finally have the Olympic Games.”
Alonso was then spotted sight-seeing in Paris after announcing her retirement. That went down badly with Paraguayan Olympic Committee chief Larissa Schaerer. The athlete was told to stay in a hotel for two days until her flight departed Paris.
“She competed on Saturday the 27th [July] and when she finished competing, she declared that she was going to retire,” Schaerer told Paraguayan station Radio Monumental 1080 AM.
“We were not aware of that, not even her coach. It was a decision that we respect. She had a flight to leave on the 29th in the morning and that same afternoon-evening she told me that she was going to leave, that she was going to sleep in a hotel.
“I asked her to communicate it in writing, because she is part of a delegation and was withdrawing. She sent the email and was authorised to stop belonging to our delegation. The next day, on Sunday the 28th, I ran into her at the Olympic Village. She was dressed to go out, in her own clothes, not with clothes for the delegation.
“She has not met the parameters of a high-performance athlete for some time. This was reported by her coach. Her situation, like that of every athlete, was going to be reviewed upon her return. An evaluation is made after the Olympic Games and the process is reviewed, how she behaved and how she was handling the preparation and her competitions. We had problems with her in fulfilling that process.”
