American Anita Alvarez was rescued from under a coach’s pool after she fainted during her synchronized swimming performance at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Spaniard Andrea Fuentes jumped to the rescue of 25-year-old Alvarez, who sank to the bottom of the pool and could no longer breathe during his performance in the artistic swimming singles freestyle final.
“It’s scary,” Fuentes said. I had to jump because the rescuers didn’t do it. ” Fuentes, 39, was wearing shorts and a shirt under the pool and pulled Alvarez over before being assisted to the side of the pool. “I was scared because I knew he wasn’t breathing, but he’s okay now,” said Fuentes, a four-time Olympic medalist. Alvarez was taken on a stretcher to the institution’s medical center, where his colleagues and fans were shocked.
Team USA later released a statement from Fuentes stating that Alvarez had fainted due to the effort spent on his performance. “Anita is fine,” said the 16-time World Championships medalist. Doctors checked her vital signs and everything was normal: heart rate, oxygen, sugar level, blood pressure. “Sometimes we forget that this happens in other sports that require high endurance,” he said. Marathons, cycling etc.… We’ve seen pictures where some athletes don’t reach the finish line, while others help them… Our sport is no different, but it’s in the pool. ”
Alvarez is participating in the World Championships for the third time, and he also fainted at Olympic qualification in Barcelona last year. In another interview, Fuentes criticized the slow response of lifeguards to the World Championships, which will end on July 2, after nearly two weeks of competition.
“I don’t think he breathed for at least two minutes because his lungs were full of water,” he said. But we took him to a nice place, he vomited water and coughed, but it was very scary. ” “When I saw him drowning, I looked at the rescuers, but I saw that they were shocked,” he said. They did not react. I said to myself, “Are you going to dive?” I reacted quickly and told myself I couldn’t watch. ” “I didn’t think, I jumped,” he said. I think this is the weirdest and fastest freediving of my career. I lifted and lifted, heavy, not easy. ”
Fuentes confirmed that Alvarez will rest and the doctors will decide if he is ready to dive into the team finals on Friday.