At the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, an American swimmer faints during a routine and is pulled out of the pool by her swimming coach.
According to Andrea Fuentes, who was coaching at that moment, lifeguards didn’t go into the water, so she had to save Alvarez herself after she sank to the bottom of the pool during last night’s solo free final.
In a sequence of graphic photographs from the rescue, the coach pulls Alvarez’s lifeless body floating to the pool’s floor and hauls her back to the surface.
Alvarez was carried on a stretcher to the pool’s medical center, with spectators looking shocked by the event.
Previously, Fuentes stepped in to assist her trainee following a similar occurrence.
She also rushed out when Alvarez fainted during a routine at an Olympic qualifying event in Barcelona last year.
In an Instagram post, Fuentes wrote, “Anita is okay,”
“The doctors checked all vitals and everything is normal – heart rate, oxygen, sugar levels, blood pressure, et cetera… all is OK.
“We sometimes forget that this happens in other high-endurance sports [such as] marathon, cycling, cross country.”
“We all have seen images, where some athletes don’t make it to the finish line and others, help them to get there. Our sport is no different than others, just in a pool.”