While competing in the artistic swimming women’s solo free event at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Budapest, Hungary, American synchronized swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted in the water. Her coach, Andrea Fuentes, didn’t hesitate to jump in and rescue her. Fuentes swam to the bottom of the pool to reach Alvarez, pulling her to the surface and the side of the pool where she regained consciousness and received medical attention. Alvarez recovered and is doing fine. Speaking exclusively with Good Morning America, Fuentes said: “When you finish a choreography, you really want to breathe because you hold your breath for a long time…and I saw that [Alvarez] was going down, so I immediately knew that something was happening. So I went as fast as I could and I reached her and brought her to the surface.” OLI SCARFF/Getty Images Fuentes then described how she brought Alvarez back to consciousness by putting intense pressure on the fingernail, which is very painful but “creates adrenaline for you to wake up.” She then gave Alvarez CPR until medical staff took over. While Fuentes was very alert and heroic in her actions, she stated in an interview with Spanish broadcaster Cadena COPE (via CNN) that part of the reason she jumped in was that the lifeguards at the pool weren’t doing anything. She said, “I called for the lifeguards, like, ‘Go into the pool, can’t you see she’s going down in the water?’ And they weren’t reacting, so after a couple of seconds, I went in as fast as I could.” CNN reached out to FINA concerning the lifeguards’ response, but as of publishing, they did not respond. Giving an update on Alvarez’s health and status in the world competition, the USA Artistic Swimming organization shared a statement on Instagram writing, “Anita feels good now and the doctors also say she is okay. Tomorrow she will rest all day and will decide with the doctor if she can swim free team finals or not” on Friday. It turns out that this isn’t that rare of an event in synchronized swimming. A four-time synchronized swimming Olympic medalist, Fuentes told Good Morning America that the sport is “extremely hard” and people sometimes pass out just like Alvarez did. Nikola Krstic/MB Media/Getty Images Fuentes also had to rescue Alvarez in a similar incident at an Olympic qualifying event last year when she fainted during a routine. At the time, she was performing with a partner, Lindi Schroeder, who helped Fuentes get Alvarez to safety. Next, Florida Man Wins Lottery After Taking Different Route Home for Heartwarming Reason
