Synchronized swimming is a highly aesthetic sport, combining sports such as gymnastics, dance, ballet and swimming – at the edge of the pool, above and below water. At the same time, the dance above and below the water is incredibly strenuous, with long periods of diving in which twists, twists and other complicated elements have to be shown. A US athlete was in one of these diving phases at the World Championships on Margaret Island in Budapest when a dramatic incident occurred on Wednesday.
Images from underwater cameras show 25-year-old Anita Alvarez sinking unconscious to the bottom during her solo freestyle, then being brought back to the water’s surface in a spirited rescue by her trainer Andrea Fuentes before finally being treated at the poolside by paramedics. Fuentes had jumped into the water in full gear.
The images are now going around the world, shocking and disturbing at the same time. The trainer sharply criticized the safety precautions of the competition and the support staff the following day. “When I saw them sink, I looked over to the rescuers, but I saw that they just stared and didn’t react,” Fuentes told the Spanish newspaper on Thursday ace. I thought, “Are you guys going to jump in or not?” So she acted. “That’s how I am, I can’t just stare,” said Fuentes from Spain, who was then celebrated as a heroine by the media from her homeland.
Andrea Fuentes (right) finally brought Anita Alvarez back to the surface with the help of other helpers.
(Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP)
All vital functions were checked at the edge of the pool. Heart rate, oxygen, blood sugar level, blood pressure – everything is “normal”. The shock was still in her and her team’s limbs. In the minutes after the terrible incident, they cried for the life of their teammate, who had previously passed out in competition during the 2021 Olympic qualification. “I think she didn’t breathe for at least two minutes because her lungs were full of water,” said Fuentes. Then her protégé “vomited the water, coughed, and that was it, but it was a big shock”.
There was a similar case with the German water jumpers
The German synchronized swimmer Marlene Bojer, who had achieved her best place in the World Championships with tenth place, experienced the drama of Budapest up close. “I think that’s really bad,” said the Munich native. You’ve noticed something like this several times: “When you see it live, your heart really stops and you just think: For God’s sake.”
At the end of a freestyle, you are “absolutely at the limit in synchronized swimming. Muscular, from the head, from the energy – everything is just out there,” says Bojer: “We cover everything with the smile, the emotions and the music. But like that In a situation you can see that we are also physically at the limit.” National coach Doris Ramadan said when asked by SZ: “The oxygen debt is extremely high in our sport, that can happen. Anita just went beyond her limits.”
Anita Alvarez in Budapest before the dramatic incident.
(Photo: Lisa Leutner/Reuters)
There was a similar case with the German water jumpers. In 2010, national coach Lutz Buschkow jumped into the pool for a rescue operation in Rostock after Maria Kurjo hit her head on the tower and fell unconscious into the water. The incident from twelve years ago went off lightly – similar to the one with Alvarez.