Artistic Swimmer Anita Alvarez Loses Conciousness At World Aquatics Championship

Artistic swimmer, Anita Alvarez had to be rescued from the bottom of the pool after fainting at the World Aquatics Championship.

Anita lost consciousness after completing her solo free final routine in Budapest on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old American’s coach, Andrea Fuentes, dived into the pool fully clothed to rescue her in frightened scenes.

“It was a big scare,” four-time Olympic medallist Fuentes was reported as saying by Spanish newspaper Marca.

“I was scared because I saw she was not breathing, but now she is doing very well.
“She only had water in her lungs, once she started breathing again everything was OK.”

And speaking to Spanish radio, she said: “It felt like a whole hour. I said things weren’t right, I was shouting at the lifeguards to get into the water, but they didn’t catch what I said or they didn’t understand.

“She wasn’t breathing. I went as quickly as I could, as if it were an Olympic final.”

“Tomorrow she will rest all day and will decide with the doctor if she can swim free team finals or not. Thank you for all of your well wishes for Anita.”

It is not the first time that Alvarez has fainted during a routine, doing so during an Olympic qualifier in Barcelona, with Fuentes also rescuing her on that occasion.

Alvarez, who finished seventh in the final, previously fainted following a routine during an Olympic qualifier in Barcelona last year. Fuentes also rescued her on that occasion.