Panic at World Swimming Championships! U.S. coach dives into the pool to save drowning athlete

U.S. swimmer Anita Alvarez has been the protagonist of one of the tensest moments in the sport during the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary. 

The U.S. national team athlete was performing her routine in the artistic swimming solo freestyle final when she fainted and sank in the pool. Her coach, Andrea Fuentes, was the first to react and jumped into the water to rescue her athlete from possibly drowning.

It was the biggest scare of the sport, an episode that made Anita's teammates fear the worst. But moments later, the U.S. team said Anita Alvarez was in good health after being brought back to life by the medical services. She will now undergo tests to investigate the cause of the fainting.

Imágenes del dramático rescate de la nadadora estadounidense Anita Alvarez del fondo de la piscina, cuando se desmayó durante la final femenina de sincronizada, este miércoles durante el Mundial de Budapest #AFP #AFPdeportes

📸 Oli Scarff
📸 Peter Kohalmi pic.twitter.com/YpIydhFvUD

— Agence France-Presse (@AFPespanol) June 23, 2022

Her coach, the Spanish Fuentes, explained in an interview with Cadena SER, that this is not the first time this has happened to her. "She is an athlete who likes to push to the limit, but today she has gone 20 times too far," said the coach.

"We ran out of oxygen and she says why does it have to happen to me, but it also happens in other sports,” she added.

🔴 Anita Álvarez se desmaya dentro del agua y su entrenadora no duda en saltar para salvarle la vida. pic.twitter.com/4RO7PQVESq

— Alerta Zeta | Sucesos 🇪🇸 (@AlertaZeta) June 22, 2022

The situation could get worse if the athlete is alone in the water. "I saw that the lifeguards were paralyzed and I was shouting at them, but they were just gawking at me. I jumped in and watched her go under," Andrea added.

"I grabbed her and pulled her out, but her jaw was hard, I slapped her twice and yelled at her to breathe. But she wasn't breathing. The lifeguard kept her on her back and when someone is not breathing you have to turn them so they don't swallow water."

Finally, everything turned out to be a scare since the swimmer started breathing just seconds later and is out of danger, as reported by the U.S. swim team.