The International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced that it will review the current regulations that prevent the intervention of lifeguards without a signal from the referee, after they did not react in time on Wednesday to assist the American swimmer Anita Álvarez, who passed out and was rescued by the quick intervention of the Spanish coach Andrea Fuentes.
In a statement, FINA revealed that lifeguards hired to work at world swimming championships can only go into action after authorization from the referees, which is why Fuentes was faster than them.
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The action of the coach who saved Anita Álvarez
The incident occurred on Wednesday at the World Championships in Budapest, when the American swimmer Anita Álvarez fainted at the end of her exercise in the artistic swimming free solo final. Thanks to the quick intervention of Fuentes, the mishap was only a scare.
After signaling to the lifeguards without their reacting, the coach jumped into the pool to rescue her pupil. Later, she told the press that the rescuers had been paralyzed.
FINA’s explanation of what happened
“According to the regulations, (the lifeguards) can only jump into the pool after receiving a signal from the referees”highlighted the director of the world health service, Béla Merkely, in the note.
It is a restriction imposed to avoid interruptions of the competition programs “in case of a possible misunderstanding,” he explained.
Merkely admitted that the referees did not react immediately. “After the coach jumped into the pool, the lifeguards, seeing the situation, no longer waited for the signal from the judges and intervened,” she adds.
After leaving the pool on a stretcher, the swimmer recovered and is out of danger. Team USA’s planned lineup for Friday’s final includes Alvarez for now.
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This was not the first time that the swimmer fainted in the pool, since the same thing happened to her in Barcelona last year, in the Olympic qualifying competition, recalls the digital newspaper Telex.hu.
FINA promised to investigate the case to determine how cases like the one now happening could be prevented.
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