USA Artistic Swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted during the Budapest World Aquatics Championships, and was rescued by her coach from the bottom of the pool.
After finishing her routine during Wednesday’s solo free final, Alvarez fell to the bottom of the pool and was not breathing. Her coach Andrea Fuentes jumped into the water to rescue her.
To bring the swimmer to the top, the coach dove to the bottom of the pool. After that, he got assistance bringing Alvarez to the pool’s edge.
After the incident, the USA swim team issued a statement saying that Alvarez was doing well.
“It was a big scare. I had to jump in because the lifeguards were not doing it,” Fuentes was reported as saying by Spanish media. Additionally, Fuentes informed that the swimmer’s fainting was caused by the effort she exerted into her practise.
“She only had water in her lungs, once she started breathing again everything was OK,” said Fuentes. It felt like a whole hour. I said things were not right, I was shouting at the lifeguards to get into the water, but they did not catch what I said or they did not understand. She was not breathing … I went as quickly as I could, as if it were an Olympic final,” he said.
The swimmer will rest on Thursday, according to the coach, and after undergoing more medical examinations, she hopes to compete in the team event on Friday.