A scary moment occurred Wednesday at the 2022 FINA World Championships, as Team USA swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted during the solo free final. Alvarez sank to the bottom of the pool before her coach, Andrea Fuentes, jumped in to rescue her.
Team USA swimmer Alvarez fainted under the water at the end of her routine in the solo free final in the 2022 FINA World Championships, but is now said to be doing well.
“It was a big scare. I had to jump in because the lifeguards weren’t doing it. I was scared because I saw she wasn’t breathing, but now she is doing very well.” Fuentes said in an interview with Marca. The quote has been translated from an original interview in Spanish.
Team USA swimmer Anita Alvarez was rescued from the water by her coach Andrea Fuentes when she fainted during the artistic swimming solo free final on Wednesday, at the 2022 Fina world Aquatics Championships, being held in Budapest.
Having completed her routine, Alvarez lost consciousness and sank to the bottom of the pool. US coach, Andrea Fuentes, dressed in normal clothing, dived in to rescue the 25-year-old athlete, taking hold of her and swimming to the surface, where, with with the help of competition assistant, they managed to get Alvarez to the edge of the pool.
The artistic swimmer, still apparently unconscious, was then taken on a stretcher to the pool’s medical center, amidst warm applause from the spectators in the arena, though her family and teammates were clearly in shock.
Alvarez received immediate medical attention and seems to be doing well now. Fuentes told MARCA that the plan for the swimmer is to rest all day Thursday in hopes of her being able to compete in Friday’s team free event. However, Alvarez will go through testing in the next few days to try and figure out the cause of her fainting.
Alvarez plans to compete on Friday:
According to Fuentes, Alvarez plans to rest all day Thursday, before competing on Friday in the team free event. The swimmer, who was named USA Synchro Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2019, was competing for a medal in her third World Championships, however she finished seventh.
This is not the first time Alvarez has passed out in the water. She fainted during her artistic swimming routine last year at the Olympic qualifier in Barcelona. At the time, her mother told WIVB that her daughter had fainted before, but she had not seen her faint during a competition.
The coach’s words:
“It was a good scare, I had to dive because the lifeguards didn’t do it. I was scared because I could see she wasn’t breathing, but she’s feeling great now, she’s at her best,” said Andrea Fuentes, coach of the U.S. artistic swimming team.
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