Who is Anita Alvarez and why did she faint at the World Championships in Budapest?

ANITA ALVAREZ is a professional synchronised swimmer who represents the United States - but her name made headlines as she was involved in a life threatening incident.

The American was participating at the World Championships in Budapest before her coach Andrea Fuentes had to jump in the pool and rescue her.

Which sent colleagues and supporters into instant shock during the nerve-racking situation.

Find out more on Anita Alvarez and the horrific incident below...

Who is Anita Alvarez?

Born December 2, 1996, Anita Alvarez is a Mexican-American artistic and synchronised swimmer.

Originally from New York, Álvarez attended Kenmore West Senior High School where she graduated in 2014 - and her professional swimming career took off a year later.

Alvarez, 25, worked her way into the women's USA Synchronised Swimming National Team where she competed at the 2014 Junior World Championships and the 2015 World Championships.

She competed at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the women's duet with Mariya Koroeleva. The pair finished ninth overall.

However, Alvarez's biggest achievements came in 2019 when she earned a bronze medal in the 2019 Lima World Championships for the Women's Duet and Women's Team.

These achievements earned Alvarez the USA Synchro Athlete of the Year award that same year and the swimming star was also named USA's Artistic Swimming Athlete of the Year in 2021.

Why did she faint at the Budapest World Championships?

Anita Alvarez was in danger of drowning as she lost consciousness in the pool during her solo free final routine.

The US star was within seconds of death as she began to sink to the bottom of the pool.

Thankfully, Alvarez's coach Andrea Fuentes jumped in and rescued her before she was given some medical attention

Anita's oxygen, sugar levels and blood pressure has all reportedly been deemed as "okay" by doctors and Fuentes confirmed the reason behind this tragic moment was due to Alvarez having water in her lungs.

What did Andrea Fuentes say?

After the shocking scenes in Budapest, former World Champion Fuentes slammed lifeguards for "not doing anything".

The Spaniard said: "It was a big scare. I had to jump in because the lifeguards weren't doing it.

"I was scared because I saw she wasn't breathing, but now she is doing very well.

"Anita is doing much better."

Alvarez told how she was finishing her routine when she thought "uh-oh, I don't feel too great", and that was the last thing she remembered.

Fuentes also said Alvarez could still compete in the team event at the championships.

She told Spanish daily : "She doesn’t want to leave here with the photo of her unconscious at the bottom of the pool.

"In any case in the team events Anita does a lot of pirouettes and very few apneas so she will almost certainly compete."