Big scare Wednesday at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest. The coach of the American artistic and synchronized swimming team dove into the pool to save one of her swimmers, who had passed out.
Anita Alvarez was breathless after her performance in the free solo synchronized swimming final and sank to the bottom of the pool. Andrea Fuentes then jumped into the water to rescue her. ” We were very scared. I had to jump because the rescuers weren’t doing it,” Fuentes told the Spanish newspaper. brand.
Fuentes, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, descended to the bottom of the pool and pulled Alvarez up to the surface before receiving help to carry the distressed swimmer to the edge of the pool.
” She is fine “
“I was scared, because I saw that she was not breathing, but now she is fine,” reassured Fuentes. A stretcher carried Alvarez to the poolside medical center, leaving teammates and spectators in shock. The US swim team released a reassuring statement about the athlete’s health. Quadruple Olympic medalist, Fuentes explained to a Spanish radio that her swimmer had become unwell due to the effort exerted during her performance.
“She only had water in her lungs, once she started breathing again everything was fine,” she added. “I felt like it lasted a whole hour. I said things were wrong, I shouted to the rescuers to get in the water, but they didn’t hear what I said or they didn’t understand”. “She wasn’t breathing (…) I went as fast as I could, as if it were for an Olympic final,” she also said. According to her coach, Alvarez planned to rest on Thursday and still hoped to compete in the team event on Friday after medicals.
At 25, Alvarez is taking part in his third World Championships. She had already lost consciousness several times during the qualifying rounds at the Olympic Games last year in Barcelona.