Luana Alonso and Team Paraguay have different accounts of what happened at the Olympics in Paris. The latter says that it was forced to sent the former home. The former says the latter is lying.
As is the case with most things in life, the truth likely falls somewhere in the middle.
Alonso holds multiple Paraguayan records in the butterfly stroke. She represented her home country in the 100-meter event and only the 100-meter at the Parisian Games. It didn’t go well.
The 20-year-old former SMU and Virginia Tech swimmer was eliminated from competition after failing to reach the semifinals on Day 1.
Not only did Alonso’s time in the pool come to an end almost immediately, she retired from the sport during a tearful post-race press conference. Her career is over!
Even though the 100-meter butterfly did not go as well as she or her country might’ve hoped, Alonso was allowed to stay in the Olympic Village after the early defeat to support her teammates.
Until she wasn’t.
The Paraguayan Olympic Committee supposedly removed from the team over the weekend and did not offer any further explanation for the decision. All it said was that Alonso “created an inappropriate atmosphere,” which opened the door for all kinds of wild speculation. Some reports alleged that she ditched a team activity for a trip to Disneyland. Others went much further.
Alonso offered a vehement denial of Paraguay’s account. She claims that expulsion was not the reason for her exit but did not provide any additional clarity to combat the supposed lies.
Luana Alonso and Paraguay had issues before the Olympics!
Regardless of what actually went down, there was prior beef between the two sides. Alonso and Team Paraguay have a history. And it’s a very recent one.
The Asunción-born athlete actually wanted to represent the United States over her home country. Alonso literally said so on a livestream before the Olympics and slammed the Paraguayan Olympic Committee for the treatment of its athletes.
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” and like no Paraguayan woman has ever made a mark for the Olympic Games, and to tell me that and on top of that I am one second away is nothing.
— Luana Alonso
This happened during the pre-Olympics training period.
She continued on to say that she would “much rather represent the United States” because higher-ups at/on Team Paraguay don’t “support” or “trust” their athletes. Alonso issued a bold statement.
It’s not a pleasure to represent Paraguay and if it were up to me, I would go back to college.
— Luana Alonso
Paraguayan Olympic Committee president Camilo Perez, understandably, did not appreciate the criticism. He clapped right back and alluded that she isn’t good enough to compete for the United States so she settled for Paraguay. He’s not necessarily wrong…
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.
— Camilo Perez
All of these quotes are loose translations, but the messaging remains the same.
Luana Alonso and Paraguay were on shaky ground before the Olympics. The delegation likely had her on a short leash before she even arrived to Paris. Whatever it was that caused Alonso to leave and/or be sent home likely involved some lingering tension from the not-so-distant past.