Swimmer ‘is fine’ after being rescued from the bottom of the pool at the Worlds

Anita Álvarez, an American artistic swimming athlete, removed from the bottom of the pool by her Spanish coach Andrea Fuentes after collapsing last Wednesday (22), has not yet decided if she will return to the pool for her final test, scheduled for Friday (24). ).

The owner of four Olympic medals, Fuentes jumped into the pool to rescue Anita, who was sinking to the bottom and not breathing after finishing her routine during the free solo final.

“Anita is fine and taking the day off to rest. She has been evaluated by the team doctor and competition medical services. There is still a test to go at the 2022 Worlds and it will decide if she feels good to compete tomorrow (Friday), if she receives authorization medical,” said Alyssa Jacobs, spokeswoman for the US team.

Álvarez, a 25-year-old swimmer of Mexican origin, joins the United States team for Friday’s free exercise final.

“This has happened to her once last year at the Olympic qualifying tournament, competing with her double,” the spokeswoman said. “Before that, she had sporadic problems with fainting, but never in competition.”

“It was a good scare, I had to dive because the lifeguards wouldn’t do it,” said the technician.

Fuentes jumped into the pool in his pants and T-shirt, dove to the bottom, and hauled Álvarez to the surface before getting help pulling her out of the water.

“I was scared because I saw that she wasn’t breathing, but she is already very well, at full steam,” said the Spaniard.

Faced with doubts about the performance of the lifeguards, Bela Merkely, responsible for the medical service of the competition, clarified in a statement that “the rules under which rescuers can intervene are very strict”.

In such a situation, only FINA (International Swimming Federation) judges can decide to stop the competition for an intervention, and “no signal has been given to that effect”, Merkely continued.

“After the trainer jumped into the pool at her own risk, the local lifeguards, sensing the danger, did not wait for the judge’s signal and decided to intervene immediately, which caused the American participant to get out of the pool with their help. “, he concluded.

The American swimmer was “immediately attended to by a medical team”, published Fina.

The US swim team later said in a statement that the swimmer was doing well.

Fuentes explained to Spanish radios that the swimmer fainted due to the effort shown during her routine.

“I won’t forget, I haven’t had many experiences like that. It was quite a scare, although it’s not the first time it’s happened to her. She’s an athlete who likes to push the limits, but she crossed all the limits. I told her not to do that anymore”, he declared.

“I think she was at least two minutes without breathing because her lungs were full of water, but we managed to get her to a good place. She vomited the water, coughed and that was it”, said the trainer. “I tried to wake her up by slapping her and opening her jaw.”