A Team USA artistic swimmer was rescued from drowning by her coach Wednesday after she fainted during the FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Anita Alvarez, 25, fell unconscious and floated toward the bottom of the pool after she completed her solo free routine, NBC News reported. When none of the lifeguards appeared to notice, Alvarez’s coach, Andrea Fuentes, dove into the pool fully dressed and pulled her to the surface, the outlet continued.
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After the incident, Fuentes told a Spanish-speaking broadcaster that the lifeguards didn’t react quickly enough.
“When a swimmer finishes their routine, the first thing they want to do is breathe and so I saw that instead of going up, she was going down and I told myself, ‘Something is going on,’ and I called for the lifeguards, like, ‘Go into the pool, can’t you see she’s going down in the water?'” reported CNN.
“And they weren’t reacting, so after a couple of seconds, I went in as fast as I could,” Fuentes said. “I don’t think I’ve swum as fast ever before, even when I got Olympic medals and well, in the end, I was able to get her up and she wasn’t breathing … In the end, everything came out OK.” (RELATED: Comedian Alex Stein Attends City Council Meeting In Women’s Swimsuit, Claims To Be Trans)
Alvarez is reportedly “in good health,” according to a Thursday statement from FINA, CNN reported. Fuentes estimated that Alvarez was under the water for a full two minutes without breathing because her lungs had filled with water, the New York Post noted.