Coach, with clothes on, dives in to rescue sinking artistic swimmer

In a touching gesture a coach with her clothes on dived into a pool to fish out an artistic swimmer who she was sinking to the bottom of the pool.

It happened during the ongoing FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest on Wednesday.

According to media reports, a US coach, Andrea Fuentes, turned out to be a heroine in rescuing artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez.

Andrea, while preventing a tragedy, virtually risked her own life.

After realising that something was wrong as Anita did not come up, Andrea, in a quick reaction, dived into the pool after she saw U.S. artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez sink motionless to the bottom of the pool during a solo free routine on Wednesday.

The fully clothed Fuentes dived in. She swam to the unresponsive Alvarez, put her arms around her, and lifted her to the water’s surface, where another person helped get her out of the pool.

Alvarez, a two-time U.S. Olympian, had fainted.

“It was her best performance ever, she just pushed through her limits and she found them,” Fuentes joked.

Alvarez, who was immediately given medical attention, was feeling much better a day after the incident.

“Anita has been evaluated by medical staff and will continue to be monitored. She is feeling much better and using today to rest,” USA Artistic Swimming said in a Press  statement.

“Watching yesterday’s medical emergency of  two time Olympian Anita Alvarez and subsequent rescue by coach Andrea Fuentes was heart breaking for our community. She gave an exceptional solo performance and competed brilliantly in four preliminary and three final competitions across six days,” the statement said.

Alvarez finished seventh in Wednesday’s individual final.

“Whether or not she will swim in the free team final on Friday  will be determined by Anita and expert medical staff,” USA Artistic Swimming said.

In an Instagram post Fuentes said Alvarez was doing much better.

“The doctors checked all vitals and everything is normal: heart rate, oxygen, sugar levels, blood pressure, etc. all is okay,” Fuentes wrote.

“We sometimes forget that this happens in other high-endurance sports. Marathon, cycling, and 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, ” Fuentes added.

Prabhjot Singh