Artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez went “without breathing for at least two minutes” after she passed out and fell to the bottom of the pool during the world championships, her quick-thinking coach who saved her life said. “I think she was not breathing for at least two minutes because her lungs were full of water,” said coach Andrea Fuentes, a four-time Olympic artistic swimming medalist, adding that the swimmer’s heart was beating. “She vomited the water, coughed and that was it, but it was a big scare,” Fuentes said.
The 25-year-old had sunk to the bottom of the pool after passing out at the end of her routine during Wednesday night’s free solo final in Budapest.
Meanwhile, when it was revealed that Alvarez had passed out during a previous game, local organizers and the sport’s governing body came under fire after lifeguards were accused of not responding quickly enough to the incident.
Fuentes, could see warning signs that Alvarez was in trouble.
‘She went down’
“I saw her feet were a little whiter than usual, so I thought her blood wasn’t as normal,” Fuentes told the BBC. “Normally, when you’re done, you really want to breathe, but instead of going up, she went down.”
Fuentes, dressed in shorts and T-shirt, dove to the bottom of the pool and dragged Alvarez to the surface.
“It was a big scare. I had to jump in because the lifeguards didn’t do it,” Fuentes told Spanish media.
“When I saw her sink, I looked at the rescuers, but I saw that they were stunned. They did not respond.”
‘I thought, are you going to jump in now?’ My reflexes kicked in.”
Alvarez was taken on a stretcher to the pool medical center, where teammates and fans appeared to be in shock by the pool, and some in tears to comfort each other.
The US artistic team released a statement Thursday morning from Fuentes, saying that Alvarez had passed out from the effort put into the routine.
“We sometimes forget that this happens in other endurance sports. Marathon, cycling, cross country … our sport is no different from any other, just in a pool, we push boundaries and sometimes we find them.”
“Anita is feeling well now and the doctors also say she is fine.”
Alyssa Jacobs, a spokeswoman for the US team, said Wednesday’s incident was not the first time Alvarez passed out.
“This happened to her at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament last year when she did her duet,” said Jacobs.
“Before that she had sporadic problems with fainting, but never in competition.”
On Thursday, Bela Merkely, the head of the Hungarian medical service, told local media that the staff had followed “extremely strict FINA rules” that “determine when lifeguards can intervene”.
‘Feel the danger’
“Under the rules, members of the judging panel delegated by FINA are allowed to jump into the pool to indicate that a competition program may be interrupted due to an incident,” Merkely said.
“No such signal was received from the judges during Wednesday’s final, and regardless of whether a coach signals them, they are not allowed to intervene.”
“After the coach jumped into the pool at his own risk, the local lifeguards, sensing the danger….immediately intervene so that the American competitor could finally get out of the pool with their help.”
The governing body FINA also pointed out that the incident had ended well.
“FINA has been in close contact with Anita Alvarez, her team and the medical staff following a medical emergency during the solo free final of the artistic swimming,” it said in a statement.
“Mrs. Alvarez was immediately treated by a medical team in the room and is in good health.”
promoted
Jacobs said that Alvarez could still participate in the Team Free Final on Friday.
“Anita is doing well and is taking a rest today. She has been fully evaluated by both our team doctor and the event medical staff. She currently has one last event left to compete in the 2022 World Championships and she will decide whether she is looking forward to participating tomorrow if she is medically cleared,” said Jacobs.
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