USA swimmer Anita Alvarez was rescued from the bottom of the pool by her coach Andrea Fuentes on Wednesday. The?Mexican-American swimmer fainted during the solo free final at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.?
The artistic swimmer completed her routine and sunk to the bottom of the pool in an unconscious state. Her coach immediately jumped into the pool and pulled her out to the top before bringing her to the edge to get her medical attention.?
While still in an unconscious state, the 25-year-old was put on a stretcher and taken to the medical centre at the swimming arena.?
"It was a big scare. I had to jump in because the lifeguards weren't doing it," Fuentes was reported as saying by Spanish newspaper Marca, as quoted by AFP.
"I was scared because I saw she wasn't breathing, but now she is doing very well," Fuentes added.?
Fuentes, a four-time Olympic medalist, told Spanish radio that the reason why Alvarez fainted was because of the effort exerted during her routine.
"She only had water in her lungs, once she started breathing again everything was OK. 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 added.?
"It was very intense. I think she was at least two minutes without breathing because her lungs were full of water. But we were able to take her to a good place, she vomited the water, coughed and that was it, but it was a big scare," said Fuentes.
According to Fuentes, the lifeguards at the Aquatic World Championships were slow to react to the situation.?
"When I saw her sinking, I looked at the rescuers, but I saw that they were stunned.?They didn't react," said Fuentes.
"I thought, 'Will you jump in now?' My reflexes kicked in quickly. I'm like that, I can't just stare.?I didn't overthink it, I jumped. I think it was the craziest and fastest free-dive I've ever done in my career. I picked her up and lifted her, obviously she was heavy, it wasn't easy," added Fuentes.
The USA artistic team issued a statement on social media and provided updates on Anita's condition.?
"Anita is okay -- the doctors checked all vitals and everything is normal: heart rate, oxygen, sugar levels, blood pressure," Fuentes said in the statement.?
"Our sport is no different than others, just in a pool, we push through limits and sometimes we find them. Anita feels good now and the doctors also say she is OK.?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," she said.?
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