Synchronized swimming has a gorgeous artistic veneer, but it is still a difficult and strenuous sport in nature. Players often have to maintain an upside down state in the water for up to 20 seconds when doing leg movements, which poses a high challenge to cardiopulmonary function, and each time the players do the upper limb movements, it is an important breathing time.
Although the flower tourers all wear nose clips, the audience will still be worried about their breath underwater. At the recent World Championships, a scene that has been worrying the audience has become a reality. An American athlete fainted in the pool during the game and was about to sink to the bottom of the pool when her coach jumped into the pool to stage an emergency rescue.
The athlete was Anita Alvarez, a 25-year-old American athlete, who was competing in the synchronized swimming single-player final in Budapest, Hungary. During the game, Alvarez suddenly fainted and lost consciousness, and his body gradually sank to the bottom of the pool. Her coach, Andrea Fuentes, noticed something was wrong and immediately jumped into the pool and hugged Alvarez and dragged her to the water.
Alvarez received first aid as soon as he was rescued from the shore and is now recovering well. This isn't the first time Alvarez has fainted during a match, as Fuentes saved Alvarez, who fainted, in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in Barcelona.
The cause of Alvarez syncope is unclear and may be related to prolonged underwater breath holding. Coach Fuentes recalled to the media after the accident: "It was very scary at the time, and the lifeguards did not find the water in time to save people, so I jumped down. I saw that she was not breathing and was very scared. Fortunately, now she is recovering well and in much better condition. The doctor examined all of her vital signs and was normal in terms of heart rate, blood oxygen, blood sugar, and blood pressure. ”
Fuentes added: "Sometimes we forget about these things that happen in other high-intensity sports, marathons, cycling and cross-country sports, we sometimes see some athletes who can't reach the finish line and others help them." It's the same with our sports, it's just in the pool, and we push ourselves to the limit, and sometimes we really touch the limit. ”
Fuentes finally revealed that Alvarez will take a day off and decide whether to participate in the collective free self-selection final on the evening of the 24th Beijing time, as appropriate.