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U.S. artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted while performing at the World Championships, causing her coach to spring into action.
Coach Andrea Fuentes dove into the pool with all her clothes on and saved Alvarez who was sinking to the bottom of the pool. Watch the clip here:
Alvarez wasn’t breathing when they returned to the surface. The incident occurred as Alvarez had just finished her solo free event.
“It was a big scare,” Fuentes reportedly told Spanish newspaper Marca. “I was scared because I saw she wasn’t breathing, but now she is doing very well.”
Her coach said Alvarez’s swim her “best performance ever,” adding that “she just pushed through her limits and she found them.”
The competition was being held in Budapest.
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The coach noted that athletes sometimes pass out or barely finish their races in running and cycling. “Our sport is very hard too,” she wrote.
Alvarez plans to compete in Friday’s team event, Fuentes said, according to The Guardian.
Alvarez is competing in her third world championships and reportedly Fuentes has dived into the competition pool once before when she fainted.
“I’ve seen it happen to her before,” her mother told WIVB-TV after she saw Alvarez faint during Olympic qualifying a year ago while watching the Spain competition on TV in Buffalo, New York.
“Never in competition, though. I knew right away. On their last element, I could tell something was up.”
