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American Olympian Anita Alvarez was to be rescued from the pool as she fainted and almost drowned at the World Aquatics Championships in June 2022.
The artistic swimmer eventually helped Team USA to win a silver medal at Paris Games in 2024, but that was the moment her coach rushed into the pool to save her two years before, sitting with the sports world for months before the Olympics began.
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Anita Alvarez from the United States, Center, is taken from the pool after collapsing during the Solo Friestine of the artistic swimming at the 19th FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday 22 June 2022. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP)
She opened up the incident in an interview with People Magazine, which was published on Saturday.
“I remember suddenly began to see light through my eyes and thought, ‘oh, I don’t breathe,’ just as they started putting an oxygen mask on me, ‘she said.
Alvarez said the whole incident “blasted far more than” she would have thought.
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Anita Alvarez is helped out of the pool after collapsing during the Solo Free Fine final of the artistic swimming at the 19th FINA World Cup in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP)
“But learning how these photos inspired people changed the way I watched it,” she said.
Alvarez is now focused on his career outside the pool. She took up the US Air Force and trained from basic education in January. She is a member of the world -class athletic program, which helps military members continue their training while serving the country.
She has since returned to the pool to join the World Cup later this year in Singapore with the hope of returning to Team USA for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
US synchronized swimming athlete Anita Alvarez poses for a portrait during 2016 Team USA Media Summit at Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on March 8, 2016. (Robert Hanashiro-usa Today Sports)
Alvarez has three bronze and a silver medal in the World Cup.
