Paraguayan Olympic swimmer Luana Alonso has recently made headlines for revealing that Brazilian soccer star Neymar had sent her a direct message amid claims of her removal from the Olympic Village due to “inappropriate” behaviour.
Alonso competed in the women’s 100-meter butterfly at the Paris Games and discussed the interaction during a January interview on the radio show *Aire de Todos*.
Alonso, 20, shared that Neymar contacted her via DM about two years after he reacted to one of her Instagram posts.
Despite her admiration for Neymar, Alonso did not provide further details about the exchange, stating, “That’s all I can say. I cannot tell this here.”
She admitted that she initially missed the message as it was placed in her request folder. Currently, Alonso and Neymar do not follow each other on social media.
The situation has become more complex following Alonso’s performance at the Paris Games, where she was eliminated in the preliminary round of the 100-meter butterfly. The controversy intensified when she announced her retirement from swimming just a day after her race.
This announcement came shortly after she had a tattoo of the event’s five rings inked on her right hip. Alonso’s social media following surged dramatically, rising from 254,000 before the Olympics to 923,000 after the Games.
Adding to the drama, Larissa Schaerer, head of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee, stated that Alonso’s presence created an “inappropriate atmosphere” within Team Paraguay.
Alonso has since denied these claims, calling them “lies” and “false information.” On Instagram, she clarified, “I don’t want to make any statement, but I’m not going to let lies affect me either,” asserting that she was neither expelled nor removed from any location.
