What Happened to Ana Carolina Vieira? Why the Brazilian Swimmer Was Sent Home From the 2024 Paris Olympics

Brazilian swimmer Ana Carolina Vieira has recently gained a lot of media attention, but not for her swimming. The Olympian was sent home from the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris after sneaking out of the Olympic Village with her long-term boyfriend. To learn what she was doing and why athletes aren’t allowed to leave The Village, keep reading!  

What happened to Ana Carolina Vieira?  

According to a press release issued by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) on Sunday, July 28, 2024, Veiera and Gabriel Santos left the Village "without authorization” and posted about it on their respective social media accounts. The posts have since been deleted.  

The statement issued by Brazil read, “COB received a statement this Saturday, the 27th [of July], from the Head of the Brazilian Swimming Team, Gustavo Otsuka, informing that swimmers Ana Carolina Vieira and Gabriel Santos committed acts of indiscipline.”  

"With this, in agreement with the members of the Technical Committee of the sport, with the Head of the Team, and with the Brazilian Confederation of Aquatic Sports (CBDA), the COB decided to punish the two athletes for having left the Olympic Village without authorization during the night of last Friday.”  

Just like Veiera, Santos is a Brazilian swimmer. However, in the report, the COB detailed that, “Athlete Ana Carolina, in a disrespectful and aggressive manner, challenged a technical decision taken by the Brazilian Swimming Team committee.”  

 This caused the committee to agree that, “Athlete Gabriel Santos was punished with a warning and athlete Ana Carolina Vieira, with the penalty of dismissal from the delegation. She will return to Brazil immediately.”  

Gustavo Otsuka, the head of the Brazilian Swimming Team, further expanded upon the decision to send the athlete home, telling Reuters, “We're not here playing or taking a vacation. We're here working for Brazil, for the 200 million taxpayers who are working for us. We can't play around here. She took a completely inappropriate position to make her point, her dismay, about the formation of the relay.”

Vieira was a member of the 4x100 meter freestyle relay team. Their 12th place finish eliminated them from competition.

Who are Ana Carolina Vieira and Gabriel Santos?  

Vieira is a 22-year-old swimmer from S?o Paulo, State of S?o Paulo, Brazil. Paris was her second Olympic Games after Tokyo in 2020; however, she has yet to medal, and as she contested the technical decision about her departure from the Village, she will not be in medal standing.  

Santos, however, is 28 years old and made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. He also has not medaled.  

The two are also dating and often post about their outings on Instagram.  

They first posted about each other in June of 2021; however, it is unclear how long they had been dating before that. 

Neither Vieira nor Santos have commented on her departure from the 2024 Summer Games.  

Can  Olympic athletes leave the Olympic Village?

Staying in the Olympic Village isn’t mandatory for any competing athlete. They are also free to leave whenever they want to train, see their families or attend their events.  

In the Paris Olympics, many athletes have left the Village to stay somewhere else with better sleeping and food arrangements.  

"I'm the only one really [left at the village]," tennis star Coco Gauff said on July 30, 2034. “At first, I was going to move [out of the village], and then when I kept meeting all these amazing athletes staying in the village, and then Rafa [Nadal] is staying in the village. So, I was like, if he can do it, I can do it. But I understand why my teammates left." 

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