3 years on from ‘tragic incident’, US artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez looks back at how far she has come

SINGAPORE – It has been three years since American artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez found herself in a distressing scene which went viral.

After completing her solo free final at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Budapest, Hungary, she fainted and sank to the bottom of the pool.

In that critical situation, it was her quick-thinking coach Andrea Fuentes who

dived in to lift her to the surface.

Alvarez received medical treatment and was said to be fine despite having stopped breathing for at least two minutes. She missed the team final two days later.

Speaking to The Straits Times at the WCH Arena on July 17, a day before the start of the 2025 WCH artistic swimming competition, the 28-year-old said she is “forever grateful” to Fuentes.

“There was a lot that happened in that moment,” Alvarez recalled. “Of course, I was unconscious when it happened, so I don’t have memories of the actual incident.

“I remember feeling good before the swim. I remember feeling like I was really enjoying it.

“(It means a lot) having a coach or a teammate or whoever it is in your life that can be that intuitive about you and know when something is off to jump into action to help you out.

“The fact that my coach was able to step in at that moment and just react on the spot, I’m forever grateful.”

Alvarez, who was cleared by doctors to compete again, said that she did not really watch videos of the incident, adding: “I think it was more about, ‘how do we move forward from it?’

“Very forward thinking, trying to see what I can do to make sure that I’m okay, that I’m healthy enough to get back in the pool and continue doing what I love.

“I didn’t want to keep watching it over and over, or cry about what had happened. I wanted to move on from it and become a better and stronger person.”

At the Paris Games, she reached a career milestone by winning her first Olympic medal, a silver in the team event.

“The steps that I took from that tragic moment, to the next two years to get to Paris and to end with the result that we did was quite the journey,” she said.

“It was very special to look back on that and see how far I came, how my support system helped me out and how strong the human mind is to be able to get us back into things like that.”

At the July 11-Aug 3 WCH in Singapore, Alvarez, who has one silver and three bronzes in her previous six appearances at the world championships, will be hoping to clinch gold for the first time.

While she does not know when she will be hanging up her goggles, she has already started preparing for life beyond the pool.

In November 2024, she enlisted into the United States Air Force and completed basic military training two months later under a programme that allows elite competitors to train while serving their country.

Alvarez said: “Representing the USA in two different uniforms is pretty cool. It’s gonna be time to wrap up my career at some point soon. So I’ve to start thinking about my future and my career outside of the pool is very important to me.

“The air force has so many different career fields to explore, so I’m excited about the opportunity for anything. Of course, (being a) pilot would be super cool, but it also depends when I decide to be done in the pool.”

For now though, Alvarez and her teammates will be focused on preparing for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

She said: “To see how magical it was in Paris, thinking that it could be happening in my home city makes me emotional because it would be so special.”

Teammate Jacklyn Luu added: “Being able to compete at a home Olympic Games (would mean) so much for all of us, especially bringing the exposure to artistic swimming for all of America.”