American Swimmer Anita Alvarez Faints in the Pool During the FINA World Championships in Budapest
In what might go down as one of the biggest sporting scares in 2022, Mexican American artistic and synchronized swimmer, Anita Alvarez fainted in the water during the FINA World Championships in Budapest and had to be rescued by her Spanish coach, Andrea Fuentes who jumped into the water to pull her out.
This Isn’t the First Time This Has Happened
According to the American team, this is not the first time it has happened to her. It happened to her in 2021 during the qualifying trials. She is out of danger and will be evaluated in the coming days to establish the causes of what was her second fainting spell in less than a year.
Alvarez eventually finished seventh behind Spain’s Iris Tió, who at 19 years of age registered a score of 89.7000.
The gold medal was won by Japan’s Yukiko Inui (95.3667), silver was won by Ukraine’s Marta Fiedina (93.8000) and bronze was won by Greece’s Evangelia Platanioti (91.7667).
Alverez’s Coach Speaks
“It was a good scare, I had to dive because the lifeguards didn’t do it. I was scared because I could see she wasn’t breathing, but she’s feeling great now, she’s at her best,” said Andrea Fuentes, coach of the U.S. artistic swimming team.
Below are images captured during the incident, which show Anita Alvarez being rescued by her coach, Andrea Fuentes.
