2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
Brazilian swimmers Ana Carolina Viera and Gabriel Santos received warnings from the Brazilian Swimming Team Committee on Saturday for leaving the Olympic village without permission on July 26. In addition, Viera was sent home from Paris by the committee for contesting a relay lineup-related decision in a “disrespectful and aggressive manner.”
Here’s the official statement about Viera and Santos from the Brazilian Olympic Committee, translated into English:
The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) received this Saturday, 27, a statement from the Head of the Brazilian Swimming Team, Gustavo Otsuka, with the information that swimmers Ana Carolina Vieira and Gabriel Santos committed acts of indiscipline.
With this, in common agreement with the members of the Technical Committee of the sport, with the Team Leader 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.
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.
According to Brazilian news outlet O Globo, Viera and Santos, who are in a relationship with each other, were punished after social media posts showed they were outside of the Olympic Village.
“Everyone knows that we came to work, and to work for Brazil, not for a vacation, nor to play, we came to work for Brazil,” said Gustavo Otsuka, the head of the Brazilian swim team.
According to Otsuka, Viera also got upset over a relay-related decision, which resulted in her being set home. She swam on Brazil’s women’s 4×100 free relay on Saturday, clocking a 54.81 leadoff leg to help her country to a 12th place finish in prelims. Her best time in the event is a 54.46, clocked at the 2023 World Championships.
Prior to Viera’s punishment, she was also set to swim on Brazil’s women’s 4×100 medley relay as well.
“[Viera] violated the code of conduct by being too impetuous about a technical decision. She was aggressive and you can’t lose focus on the competition, which is the most important thing,” Otsuka told O Globo. “There was no other way. I’m not happy with the situation, but there was nothing we could do. We tried to talk to her twice in the pool area and then we tried a third time. And she didn’t change. I don’t even remember the words she used, she said a lot of nonsense.”
This is not the first time that Viera has gotten into trouble at a swim meet, as in 2023, she had a dispute with her countrymate Jhennifer Conceicao at the Trofeu Brasil competition.
Meanwhile, Santos swam on Brazil’s men’s 4×100 relay, splitting 48.86 in prelims to help his team place 10th. He is not entered in any individual events.
