An Olympic swimmer is speaking out after being banned from this year’s games.
22-year-old Ana Carolina Vieira of Brazil was banned by the Brazilian National Swimming Team after she was caught sneaking out of the athletes’ village without permission.
Further disrespectful conduct also contributed to her ban.
Vieira has since responded to the ban via her Instagram story, according to a Wednesday report from the U.K. Daily Mail.
“I left there and left my materials, I didn’t know what to do,” Vieira said.
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“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.
“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 [Brazil Olympic Committee] channels. But how am I going to get in touch?”
Vieira then noted she had “filed a complaint of harassment with the [Brazil Olympic Committee]” according to the Daily Mail.
The athlete promised to speak with her lawyers in the near future. After doing so, she wants to reveal more about her side of the story.
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Vieira’s fellow Brazilian swimmer Gabriel Santos was also caught leaving the athletes’ village. The two appear to be a couple.
Unlike Vieira, Santos was not banned from the games.
Brazil team officials claim Vieira’s disrespectful conduct in addition to leaving the village is what set her case apart.
The Brazil Olympic Committee explained Vieira’s ban in a statement sent to Reuters.
“The athlete Ana Carolina, in a disrespectful and aggressive manner, contested a technical decision made by the Brazilian National Swimming Team committee,” the statement read.
It added: “As a result, Gabriel Santos was given a warning and Ana Carolina Vieira was dismissed from the delegation. She will return to Brazil immediately.”
The Brazil swim team leader later elaborated on the ban himself.
“We’re not here playing or taking a vacation,” Gustavo Otsuka, Brazil’s swimming team leader, said. “We’re here working for Brazil, for the 200 million taxpayers who are working for us.”
Vieira participated in Saturday’s 4×100 metres freestyle relay race. Her team finished 12th in those heats.
