Those were scary moments for everyone in the Margaret Island swimming complex, where the artistic disciplines take place. Anita Alvarez stopped breathing after her free solo practice and sank to the bottom.
Her coach Andrea Fuentes saw the danger and promptly jumped into the water to save Alvarez.
“We were very scared. I jumped into the water because the rescuers didn’t do it. They didn’t understand my cry,” Fuentes, a four-time Olympic medalist, explained to Spanish sports newspaper Marca. “I swam as fast as I could, as if it were an Olympic final.”
Fuentes, dressed in shorts and T-shirt, dove to the bottom and retrieved the hapless swimmer. Meanwhile, another man had jumped into the bath to assist the coach. The two of them got the drowning person on the edge of the pool.
“I was afraid, because I saw that she was not breathing. But now everything is fine again,” she sounded finally relieved.
Alvarez was transported on a stretcher to the hospital’s medical center, leaving her teammates and spectators in shock.
A little later, there was a reassuring communiqué from the American swim team.
According to Fuentes, Alvarez will rest today and hopes to participate in the team competition on Friday, although she will then have to get the green light from the doctors.
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For Alvarez it was the 3rd world championships, she finished 7th in the final.
She’s not ready for her test. Last year she also often lost consciousness during the Olympic qualifiers in Barcelona.
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