Dramatic footage has surfaced showing American synchronized swimmer Anita Alvarez being pulled from a swimming pool in Budapest after fainting in the water while finishing her routine at yesterday’s World Cup.
Coach Andrea Fuentes had to dive into the water to rescue 25-year-old Alvarez after rescuers did not react when she drowned in the pool.
Surprisingly, this is the second time Fuentes has rescued the swimmer after she was filmed diving and pulling her to safety when she fainted in the pool during a qualifying event for last year’s Olympic Games in Barcelona.
Alvarez regained consciousness shortly after being rescued from a swimming pool in Budapest, received immediate first aid and is reportedly recovering well. Footage from yesterday’s event shows the US swimming team celebrating as Alvarez completes his solo routine before realizing something is wrong, and moments later the 25-year-old shows Fuentes and a lifeguard pulling a man out of the pool.
Fuentes later revealed that Alvarez had stopped breathing for “at least two minutes” during the test after her performance in the women’s solo competition.
“I tried to wake her.” Well, I hit her and opened her jaw. But the truth is that until we got to the emergency room, she didn’t breathe for at least two minutes, “Fuentes said in an interview in Spanish last night.
The US coach, who was critical of the rescuers after the near-tragedy, said last night that the decision on whether Alvarez will swim in the finals of the free team tomorrow will be made on medical advice. But today, the 39-year-old mother of one child said Alvarez is determined not to abandon the World Cup.
She told the Spanish daily El Mundo: “She does not want to leave here with her picture unconscious at the bottom of the pool. In any case, in team events, Anita does a lot of pirouettes and very few apneas, so she will almost certainly compete. ‘
Anita Alvarez lies at the bottom of the pool at the World Cup in Budapest after fainting in the middle of the race yesterday
Alvarez coach Andrea Fuentes said she had to jump because “rescuers didn’t do it”
Anita Alvarez rescued by her heroic coach Andrea Fuentes after losing consciousness and sinking to the bottom of the pool at the World Cup in Budapest on Thursday
Another swimmer jumped to help Fuentes after raising Alvarez’s head above the water
A member of the U.S. team also jumped in to help bring Alvarez to the surface with rescuers accused of doing nothing to help
Alvarez (center) regained consciousness soon after being rescued and is recovering well
It is not known what caused Alvarez to faint, but synchronized swimmers often have to hold their breath for a long time underwater.
This is not the first time the swimmer has fainted in the pool – she did it in Barcelona last year, and Fuentes also saved her on this occasion.
The Olympic athlete regained consciousness shortly after being pulled from the bottom of the pool by her heroic coach
The American swimming team was visibly shaken by the horrific omission
Members of the American swimming team watching the event were seen screaming as they watched in horror as Alvarez fainted in the pool at the end of his routine.
This is the second time Alvarez has fainted in a swimming pool during a competition, with Fuentes coming to her aid again during the qualifying event for the Barcelona Olympics (pictured).
Coach Fuentes dives into pool in Barcelona to save Anita Alvarez after she fainted during last year’s Olympic qualifiers
Coach Fuentes and one of Alvarez’s teammates help the 25-year-old synchronized swimmer get out of the water after she fainted while performing a routine
Who is the coach of the characters Andrea Fuentes?
Coach Andrea Fuentes is one of the most awarded Olympians in Spain with four medals in synchronized swimming.
The 39-year-old Andrea also has an astonishing 16 medals from world and European championships.
Her Olympic success includes two silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Games in the women’s duet and team competition, and she also won bronze in the same events four years later in London in 2012.
Andrea’s only gold medal was at the 2009 World Championships in Rome in the Combination for Free Routine Exercises, and her incredible five gold medals at the European Championships were in the finals in 2008 and 2012, held in Eindhoven in duet, team and combined disciplines.
She retired from the elite competition in 2013 and became a coach the same year after a clash between national coach Ana Tares and the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation.
Andrea has an eight-year-old son, Killian, from a relationship with Spanish gymnast Victor Kano, 44.
In 2018, her sister Tina, also a synchronized swimmer, died at the age of 34 from cancer.
Speaking on Spanish radio about her heroic actions, Andrea said: “She had water only in her lungs, after she started breathing again, everything was fine. She said she wanted to swim in the final.
“It simply came to our notice then. I said things were wrong, I shouted at the rescuers to get in the water, but they didn’t understand what I said or didn’t understand.
“She was not breathing and had a really high pulse; I went as fast as I could, as if it were an Olympic final. When I took her out, she was not breathing, her jaw locked in place. Water was coming out and she was still not breathing.
“They took her on her back and I put her aside because you can’t breathe like that. She recovered very quickly. It was two minutes without breathing, and with your heart rate of 180 you don’t want to be without breathing for two minutes.
“It was a great fear. I had to jump because the rescuers didn’t do it, “Fuentes said. “I was scared because I saw that he was not breathing, but now he is doing very well. Anita is doing much better.
The American swimming team was visibly disturbed by the horrific incident and was then spotted comforting each other by the pool.
Fuentes said she realized something was wrong when Alvarez “fell and did not react” instead of coming after her routine. “When the swimmer finishes, the first thing they want to do is breathe,” she said.
The coach said she signaled to the rescuers for help, but they didn’t see her, so I jumped inside. I got there as soon as possible. I entered even faster than when I went for Olympic medals.
Fuentes said Alvarez was “not breathing” when she reached her, but was revived and checked for signs of damage after the horrific incident.
“Oxygen, glucose, heart, blood pressure, everything is fine,” she said, adding that Alvarez will rest today before returning to the pool because “he has to swim in the final.”
Speaking in a radio interview in Spanish, the coach said: “We looked at a lot of things and the pressure is good. We did a CT scan of his brain, it’s fine.
“As you know, sometimes we see it happen in sports, cyclists, athletics marathons vomit many times. She told me why?
“I said that as athletes, we are dedicated to finding out where the border is and sometimes we find it, and today you found it, you went so far that your body said, girl, don’t ask me anything else.”
She added: “In our sport, it happens sometimes when we are out of breath for a long time, with very high impulses and sometimes the oxygen does not reach where it should, we faint.
“But it is that we spend many hours in sync. What is happening is that we are doing exercises to endure as much as possible for the race, and today that happened during the race. ‘
USA Artistic Swimming said in a statement: “Watching yesterday’s two-time emergency medical service for Olympian Anita Alvarez and the subsequent rescue by coach Andrea Fuentes was heartbreaking for our community.
“She gave an extremely solo performance and competed brilliantly in four preliminary and three final competitions in six days.
“Anita has been evaluated by medical staff and will continue to be monitored. She feels much better and uses today to relax.
“Whether she will swim or not in the final of the free team on Friday, June 24, will be determined by Anita and expert medical staff.”
Alvarez sees moments before fainting as he competes in the women’s solo final at the World Championships in Budapest
The synchronized swimmer, who competes in the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics, is seen on the floor at the beginning of her routine
Alvarez initially looked good as she did her routine, but problems began when she went underwater.
Fuentes also saved Alvarez when she fainted during an event in Barcelona in 2021 (pictured)
The 26-year-old, pictured with coach Fuentes (left), was born in Buffalo, New York, and began swimming synchronously after graduating from high school.
Fuentes said in a statement that doctors have checked all the vital signs of Alvarez and she is “feeling good” after the fear in the pool
“They need to look deeper into the cause”: Three-time Olympic synchronized champion calls for more checks on Anita Alvarez
Three-time Olympic synchronized swimming champion Alla Shishkina has called on US authorities to conduct more in-depth examinations of Anita Alvarez and “look more closely” at the reasons she fainted during a World Championships and had to be rescued by her coach.
This comes as the 25-year-old toy has to return to action just 48 hours after the accident, as she is scheduled to compete in the team competition on Friday.
Shishkina, who won gold medals in the team competition at three consecutive Olympics between London 2012 and Tokyo 2020, believes that additional checks should be carried out on Alvarez before the American can compete again.
“I think the reason should be looked for somewhere deeper,” the Russian told Sport24. “Maybe check the vessels of the brain, do a thorough encephalogram.
“If a person loses consciousness in this way, then obviously not everything is fine, you need to check your health. I wish Anita was everything …
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