Team USA swimmer who nearly drowned during competition breaks silence with major health update

A Olympic swimmer who blacked retired and astir drowned astatine a contention revealed she is doing amended than ever since the life-threatening wellness scare. 

Team USA creator swimmer Anita Alvarez made headlines erstwhile she plummeted to the bottommost of a excavation during the 2022 World Championships successful Budapest. 

The 28-year-old saw her life flash earlier her eyes successful the harrowing moment, arsenic her coach, Andrea Fuentes, dove into the h2o to rescue her. 

But she has not fto the near-death acquisition acceptable her back, arsenic she is continuing to marque monolithic strides to amended herself beyond her beloved sport.

'A batch of athletes conflict with the question of "what’s next?" erstwhile they deliberation astir the extremity of their vocation and effort to fig retired what they privation to bash successful the existent world,' Alvarez told People. 

For the determined swimmer, the reply was wide - pursuing different passionateness to go an Air Force recruit. 

After helping her squad gain a silver medal astatine the 2024 Paris Olympics, she enrolled in basic grooming astatine Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland arsenic a subordinate of the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP). 

The WCAP allows high-level athletes to continue Olympic training while serving the nation. 

'Our ngo is to make Department of Air Force athletes and hole them to successfully suffice for Team USA and vie connected the satellite signifier astatine the Olympic Games,' its ngo connection reads. 

WCAP was a cleanable acceptable for Alvarez, who has nary intentions of slowing down erstwhile it comes to her synchronized swimming.  

'Being capable to deterioration 2 uniforms and get to hole afloat clip for the adjacent Olympics portion besides representing the US Air Force conscionable seemed similar thing I couldn’t walk up,' the autochthonal New Yorker explained to People. 

Alvarez graduated from WCAP successful January arsenic the archetypal gold-medalist and 15th Olympian the programme saw.

She said she plans to prosecute a afloat clip vocation arsenic a US Air Force unit aft she competes astatine the 2028 Summer Olympics successful Los Angeles. 

'I person aspirations to proceed serving after. But close present the passionateness for my athletics is inactive there. I’d bash it everlastingly if I could,' Alvarez clarified.

'While I cherish my clip arsenic a nonrecreational athlete, it is besides precise breathtaking to person thing to look guardant to erstwhile that clip is up.'

As she looks up to her agleam aboriginal arsenic Airman Alvarez, she reflects connected her tumultuous past of mysterious aesculapian hurdles that astir halted her success. 

Before the heavily-publicized Budapest horror, Alvarez had already experienced information successful the water. 

At an Olympic qualifying lawsuit successful Barcelona successful 2021, she passed retired aft performing a duet, prompting her manager to lunge into the excavation and propulsion her out. 

'I retrieve getting to the extremity of the regular and not feeling similar I had overmuch control,' Alvarez antecedently told NPR about the archetypal clip she went unconscious portion competing. 

'I deed the past airs and I retrieve feeling similar I was successful a hamster wheel. Everything was spinning, past went dark. 

'I woke up astatine the broadside of the excavation and realized I'm astatine a competition. "Wait, I americium the competition." Everyone's staring astatine me.'

She decided to beryllium retired her past regular and had an alternate instrumentality her place, yet securing Alvarez's spot for the Tokyo Olympics. 

Concerned astir what caused her alarming wellness episode, she started searching for answers.  

'I started to get immoderate investigating aft Barcelona to fig it out, but Tokyo came up truthful fast, and I don't deliberation I did the champion occupation of being connected apical of it.' 

After the 2021 Olympics, Alvarez fto herself rest, assuming her wellness scare meant she was simply drained from pushing herself excessively hard. 

'There was thing large successful the tests, truthful I kept going. Everything was good until Budapest,' she told NPR.   

'I ne'er adjacent thought astir the anticipation of it happening again.'

But it did - and this time, the full satellite was watching. 

Jaw-dropping photos captured the Fuentes rushed to Alvarez's aid. A lifeguard soon joined successful to assistance propulsion Alvarez's limp assemblage retired of the pool.

Recalling the infinitesimal she was yanked to safety, Alvarez told People: 'I retrieve abruptly opening to spot airy done my eyes and reasoning "‘Oh, I’m not breathing," just arsenic they were starting to enactment an oxygen disguise connected me.'

After the melodramatic ordeal, Fuentes spoke retired connected Alvarez's behalf. 

'The athletics is highly hard. Sometimes radical walk out. Our occupation is to observe our limits, that's what we bash arsenic athletes,' Fuentes said.

She added successful in Instagram post: 'It was her champion show ever, she conscionable pushed done her limits and she recovered them.' 

USA Artistic Swimming said successful a statement: 'Watching yesterday's aesculapian exigency of 2x Olympian Anita Alvarez and consequent rescue by manager Andrea Fuentes was heartbreaking for our community. 

'She gave an exceptional solo show and competed brilliantly successful 4 preliminary and 3 last competitions crossed six days. 

'Anita has been evaluated by aesculapian unit and volition proceed to beryllium monitored. She is feeling overmuch amended and utilizing contiguous to rest.' 

She added that it would beryllium determined by the aesculapian unit if she could execute astatine the adjacent event.  

In the contiguous aftermath of the incidental Fuentes explained: 'She lone had h2o successful her lungs, erstwhile she started breathing again everything was ok. She's said she wants to aquatics successful the final.'

Alvarez said successful an Instagram communicative that she was 'ok and healthy' arsenic she thanked fans for their messages of support.

Nevertheless, Alvarez was banned by the International Swimming Federation from competing successful the squad last 48 hours later. 

'[The incident] blew up mode much than I ever thought,' Alvarez admitted to People. 

'But learning however those photos inspired radical changed the mode I looked astatine it.'  

After stepping retired of the spotlight and determining she was much than alright to proceed competing, Alvarez stunned astatine the 2024 Paris Olympics, taking location a metallic medal. 

She told People her post-Olympic clip successful the WCAP was the 'longest I’d ever been retired of a pool' and she is anxious to afloat re-emerge successful grooming for 2028.