The 21-year-old Paraguayan swimmer who stirred headlines during the Paris Olympics has returned to social media, announcing her comeback.
Luana Alonso, originally born in Asunción, Paraguay, competed for the country during last summer’s Olympics, but failed to make the semifinals.
Her decision to visit Disneyland instead of supporting her teammates during the final swim meets prompted Olympic officials to say that her presence was “creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay.”
Highlights
- Paraguayan swimmer Luana Alonso breaks her silence on why she left the Paris Olympics
- After losing, she announced her retirement and visited Disney, prompting Olympic officials to call her inappropriate
- In a new IG post, she discusses what she thinks is the real reason she got such a bad wrap
Now, she’s revisiting the issue to set the record straight.
Luana Alonso sets the record straight about leaving Paris Olympics
Image credits: luanalonsom
Image credits: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
Last summer, Luana competed in the 2024 Summer Olympics, representing Paraguay in the women’s 100 meters butterfly.
It was a tough break for the then 20-year-old. She failed to make it to the semifinals by coming in sixth in her heat. Immediately following the loss, Alonso took to social media to announce her retirement.
She also decided to take a night off to visit Disneyland Paris. Without qualifying for the semifinals, she decided against hanging out with the rest of her team so she could have a moment to herself.
“Let me make be clear”: Alonso reacts to coverage saying she was kicked out
Image credits: Luana Alonso/Facebook
Image credits: Luana Alonso/Facebook
In a long IG post recently, Alonso said: “Let me make this clear: I left the Olympic Village on my own. The Paraguayan Olympic team claimed I created an 'inappropriate environment' simply because I decided I didn't want to swim anymore,” Alonso said, referring to the fact that after she lost, she abruptly announced her retirement and fled to Disney.
In other parts of her post, the swimmer said that Olympic officials “tried to take [her] accreditation away, but that's not something they had the right to do.”
She implied that the reason the officials called her inappropriate was because she didn’t hand in her credentials. “I chose not to hand it over and apparently that was 'inappropriate' to them,” she said in the post.
“She did not spend the night in the Athletes Village”: Alonso visits Disney, skips supporting teammates
Image credits: Luana Alonso/Facebook
Image credits: JohnnyL9033
Image credits: JerryTelevision
At the time of the incident last summer, rumors were swirling about the cause of her departure.
According to the official statement, “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."
At the time, the media widely reported that Alonso had been kicked out of the Olympics despite a post on her social media accounts that read:
“I just wanted to make it clear that I was never removed or expelled from anywhere, stop spreading false information. I don’t want to give any statement but I’m not going to let lies affect me either.”
After that, she has been largely silent, balancing her time as an adult content creator with her studies at Southern Methodist University, a Christian college, in Dallas, Texas. Until now.
“I’m coming back”: Alonso replies to a question about her return to swimming
Image credits: luanalonsom
Image credits: luanalonsom
In her latest IG post, Alonso talks about being asked to participate in the Pan American Junior Games. She implies that she would have agreed if she had been treated better earlier.
"Funny how the same people who treated me like this later begged me to return to the Pan American Junior Games. If I had been treated with basic respect, maybe I wouldn't have stepped away,” her post read.
She continued that she’s “always given everything for my country, breaking records, winning medals. But standing up for myself has always made me a 'problem' in their eyes,” she said.
Alonso said she was not sorry for standing up for herself.
Image credits: luanalonsom
Image credits: luanalonsom
"I speak up when I'm disrespected, whether it's by team-mates, staff, or anyone else and that's not going to change,” she told followers.
"I'll be posting a video soon to address everything properly.
"But seriously, these lies are wild and affecting my life and that's why I decided I'm keeping my life lowkey," Alonso said.
And in one exchange with a fan who asked if she would ever consider returning to the sport, she replied, “Next year I’m coming back. But I don’t know if I will be back to competitive swimming.”
Netizens have mixed reactions to Luana Alonso's confession about what really happened
