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Ana Carolina Vieira has spoken out after she was expelled from the 2024 Olympics in Paris on Tuesday, July 30. The Brazilian swimmer, 22, revealed that she has filed a harassment complaint and is exploring legal options against the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), after she was forced to leave and return home after she was discovered to have snuck out of the Olympic Village for a night out in Paris with her boyfriend, Gabriel Santos.
Ana and Gabriel, who is also a swimmer for Brazil, left Olympic Village on the evening of July 26. When they returned, they were both reprimanded. Ana’s team raced in the 4×100 relay the next day and placed seventh. She was approached by the COB and asked about her activity. “The Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports (CBDA), the COB decided to punish the two athletes for having left the Olympic Village without authorization last Friday,” the COB said in a statement, per Daily Mail. “In addition to this fact, the athlete Ana Carolina, in a disrespectful and aggressive manner, contested the technical decision taken by the Brazilian Swimming Team committee. Thus, athlete Gabriel Santos was punished with a warning and athlete Ana Carolina Vieira was punished with removal from the delegation. She will return to Brazil immediately.”
In an Instagram Story, Ana claimed that she left her possessions, and she’s had trouble getting in touch with the COB. “My things are there [in the Olympic Village], I went to the airport in shorts. I had to open my suitcase at the airport. I’m in Portugal, I’m going to Recife and then to São Paulo,” she said. “I am helpless, I have had no access to anything, I have not been able to speak to anyone. They told me to contact the COB channels. But how am I going to get in touch?”
Ana said that she’d filed a harassment complaint, but she hadn’t heard anything back yet.
The swim team’s leader Gustavo Otsuka also spoke up and said that the Olympics are not a “vacation,” and criticized her reaction and decision. “We’re here working for Brazil, for the 200 million taxpayers who are working for us. We can’t play around here,” he said.
