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Former SMU and Virginia Tech swimmer Luana Alonso, who was was eliminated on the first day of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games after failing to make it out of her heat in 100-meter butterfly, has gotten more ink than many gold medal winners in Paris.
So it is that Friday is another day with another story in the media about Alonso, who claims that she was not kicked out of the Olympics despite her Olympic team saying she was booted for “creating an inappropriate atmosphere within Team Paraguay.”
She reportedly spent a night out in Paris and went to Disneyland rather than sticking around to support her teammates after her event.
Now, the New York Post via Fox Sports Mexico, reports that Luana Alonso claimed she received a DM from soccer star Neymar after he reacted to one of her Instagram posts.
Alonso, who says she has been a fan of Neymar for years, claimed on the radio show Aire de Todos that two years ago, when she was 18-years-old, got a reaction from the soccer star on one of her photographs on Instagram. Then, in 2024, the 20-year-old claims, Neymer sent her a DM on the social media platform.
She wouldn’t elaborate any further, however.
“That’s all I can say,” she told the radio show’s host. “I cannot tell this here.”
Alonso, who announced her retirement after finishing sixth in the women’s 100-meter butterfly event, was reportedly expelled from the Olympic Village by the Paraguayan Olympic team and had returned home to the United States by this past Monday.
Alonso would later write on Instagram, “I just want to clarify that they (Paraguay) never took me out or expelled me from anywhere, stop spreading false information. I don’t want to give any statement but I’m not going to let the lies affect me either.”
Another report claimed that there was prior friction between Alonso and the Paraguayan Olympic team over her wanting to represent the United States over her home country at the 2024 Olympics.
“It’s not a pleasure to represent Paraguay and if it were up to me, I would go back to college,” she said before the Games.
Regardless of what the truth is surrounding her abrupt exit from Paris, she has certainly managed to make the most of her 15 minutes (or one minute, 3.09 seconds, as the case may be).