As a four-time Olympic medalist and autistic swimmer Anita Alvarez isn’t just good at holding her breath she can do it whilst performing a mix of swimming dance and gymnastics underwater really good on the leg extension but in the end of her solo performance at the world championships in Budapest the audience applause turned to anguish as something went wrong
Anita fainted and sank to the bottom of the pool first to react was coach Andrea Fuentes a former olympian herself she dived in lifting the unconscious swimmer to the surface
“I put her on her side and opened her mouth so she could expel the water. I massaged her jaw to make her relax and cooled out. I kept saying Anita breathe” — Andrea Fuentes
Andrea said she jumped in as no lifeguards had reacted and it’s not the first time she’s dived to Anita’s rescue something similar happened at Olympic qualification last year water safety
experts say Anita may have experienced shallow water blackouts triggered by
Hyperventilation
“ It only takes a very small volume of water one or two breaths to cross the lethal dose for drowning so the action of the coach was life-saving. “– Prof Mike Tipton, University of Portsmouth
Pool team USA say Anita pushed through her limits but is okay and wants to compete again tomorrow
