As American artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez slowly sank to the bottom of the pool at the World Championships in Budapest on Wednesday, her coach Andrea Fuentes quickly inspected the pool deck and decided for a split second: She dived to save her.
Alvarez, 25, from upstate New York, had lost consciousness at the end of her own event routine, creating a potentially life-threatening situation as her still body drifted beneath the surface.
“I jumped into the water again because I saw that no one, not a single lifeguard, was jumping,” Fuentes, a former Olympic medalist from Spain, told the Spanish newspaper Marca. “I was a little scared because she wasn’t breathing.”
Fuentes said Alvarez, who was treated by medical staff, spent about two minutes without breathing while the water filled her lungs. Doctors “checked all vital signs and everything is normal: heart rate, oxygen, sugar levels, blood pressure, etc., ”Fuentes said in an update posted on the Instagram account of USA Artistic Swimming, the U.S. governing body for sports.
Fuentes was hailed for her quick thinking, but she knew what to do because she had done it before. At last year’s Olympic qualifiers in Spain, Alvarez also lost consciousness at the end of a routine with his doubles partner Lindy Schroeder. As he did on Thursday, Fuentes dived into the pool fully clothed and, with Schroeder’s help, pulled Alvarez back over the water.
On Thursday, Fuentes, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, saved Alvarez again. After returning Alvarez to the pool deck, where he received medical treatment and was placed on a stretcher, Fuentes told reporters that Alvarez was “fine” and would be re-evaluated after some rest. She did not rule out the possibility of returning to the team event later this week.
“Sometimes we forget that this happens in other high-endurance sports,” Fuentes said in a statement from USA Artistic Swimming. “Marathon, cycling, cross country… we’ve all seen images where some athletes fail to reach the finish line and others help them get there. Our sport is no different from others, it’s just that in a pool we cross borders and sometimes we discover them. ”
Fuentes said “Anita is feeling well now and doctors also say she is fine.”
“Tomorrow she will rest all day and decide with the doctor whether she can swim in the free team finals or not,” Fuentes said.
Alvarez did the same at last year’s Olympic event in Spain, returning to the pool just hours after fainting to complete his next routine.
Alvarez is a two-time Olympian. She finished ninth in the duo competition at the Rio Games in 2016 and ranked 13th in the rescheduled games competition in Tokyo 2020 last summer in Japan. She is competing for the fourth time in world championships.
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