Budapest: US swimmer Anita Alvarez was rescued from drowning by her coach after she fell unconscious and began sinking to the bottom of the swimming pool during the solo free final at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. Alvarez's coach Andrea Fuentes took no time to dive into the pool and bring her back to the surface following which medical attention was provided to the swimmer.
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Reports said that the swimmer is recuperating and there have been no serious damages to her health. Alvarez was participating in the women's solo free artistic event in Budapest. "It was a big scare. I had to jump in because the lifeguards weren't doing it," Fuentes was quoted as saying by a website. "I was scared because I saw she wasn't breathing, but now she is doing very well. She only had water in her lungs, once she started breathing again everything was OK," she added.
"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," Fuentes said.
However, her mother, Karen said that she has seen her daughter going through this before but "never in competition". "Unfortunately, I've seen it happen to her before," Alvarez’s mother told a website after the episode. "Never in competition, though. I knew right away. On their last element, I could tell something was up. It was hard to watch, definitely," she said.
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