Alvarez obtained pressing medical care after the rescue.
Following the incident. Fuentes accused lifeguards at the venue of not performing quick sufficient within the face of hazard.
“It was a big scare,” Fuentes instructed Spain’s Marca newspaper. “I had to jump in because the lifeguards weren’t doing it.”
Alvarez was competing within the girls’s solo free ultimate when she stopped respiratory, sparking widespread concern amongst her teammates and spectators at the venue and on social media.
In an Instagram replace Wednesday, the official USA creative swimming account shared an announcement from Fuentes who mentioned Alvarez had been totally checked by docs and was recovering. She thanked folks for his or her nicely needs and mentioned the athlete was “feeling good now.”
“All is okay,” she wrote, earlier than highlighting the danger that swimmers, like different athletes, face whereas performing.
“We have all seen images where some athletes do not make it to the finish line and others help them get there. Our sport is no different than others, just in a pool,” she mentioned. “We push through limits and sometimes we find them.”
Alvarez, from Tonawanda, N.Y., started creative swimming, extra broadly often known as synchronized swimming till 2017, at the age of 5. She is now thought of a talented veteran and member of Team USA, competing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and at the Tokyo Games 2020, which was rescheduled to 2021 amid the pandemic.
Wednesday marked the second time that Alvarez, 25, has fainted whereas swimming. It additionally marks the second time Fuentes has jumped in to save lots of her.
In Barcelona final 12 months, the swimmer fainted throughout an Olympics qualifying occasion, prompting her coach to dive in and pull her from the water. It stays unclear what prompted Alvarez to break down however the sport typically requires swimmers to carry their breath.
“Coming up for air only occasionally, artistic swimmers need of clean air when they have the opportunity to breathe,” reads information on the crew’s official website.
During the coronavirus pandemic, athletes across the world have been pressured to search out different coaching strategies, together with the U.S. creative swimming crew who have been pressured to coach solo, at instances standing on their heads of their bedrooms — perfecting their leg actions — whilst swimming pools nationwide have been closed down.
Fuentes instructed The Washington Post that the crew turned to digital group exercises, generally joined by different worldwide swimmers. Alvarez, she mentioned, taught the group a TikTok dance.
It stays unclear if Alvarez will participate in Friday’s crew occasion. She is because of be assessed by docs Thursday.