Olympian Who Nearly Drowned During Competition Is Thriving Now, with a New Chapter as Air Force Recruit (Exclusive)

“I remember suddenly beginning to see light through my eyes,” Team USA artistic swimmer Anita Alvarez says of her near-death experience, “just as they were starting to put an oxygen mask on me”

Alvarez in her Air Force uniform, and (right) during her brush with death at the 2022 FINA World Championships.Credit : Kurstyn Canida; OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty

Even three years later, the image of an unconscious Anita Alvarez sinking to the bottom of a pool in Budapest — moments after completing her routine in the 2022 FINA World Championships — is haunting.

“It was definitely a little hard to see at first,” she recalls of the viral photographs taken as her alarmed coach dove into water to save her.

“I remember suddenly beginning to see light through my eyes,” the Team USA artistic swimmer tells PEOPLE, “and thinking, ‘Oh, I’m not breathing,’ just as they were starting to put an oxygen mask on me.”

Since her brush with death made headlines around the world, Alvarez, 28, has not only returned to the sport she loves — helping her team win a silver medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics — but has also embarked on a new chapter as an Air Force recruit. In January, the three-time Olympian now known as Airman Alvarez graduated from basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland as a member of the World Class Athlete Program, or WCAP, which was established to help elite competitors continue training while also serving their country.

Alvarez (R) doing pushups during Air Force basic training in December.Gregory Walker/37th Training Wing

“Being able to wear two uniforms and get to prepare full time for the next Olympics while also representing the U.S. Air Force just seemed like something I couldn’t pass up,” says Alvarez, the first medalist and 15th Olympian in the WCAP. “It’s a very cool opportunity.”

A Buffalo, N.Y., native, she first fell in love with artistic swimming at the age of 6 and has since remained almost singularly focused on it. Her Olympic roots run deep: Mom Karen competed in the Olympic trials in 1984, and dad David coached two future Olympians.

For a competitor who almost lost her life for her sport, joining the military was a logical next step. Alvarez first began contemplating the Air Force last spring. Like many Olympic competitors, she realized that she was approaching a crossroads in her life.

“A lot of athletes,” she says, “struggle with the question of ‘what’s next?’ when they think about the end of their career and try to figure out what they want to do in the real world.”

Alvarez prepares to hang from the bars during her final weeks of basic training in January.Daniel Cruz

Once a friend told Alvarez about WCAP, which would allow her to enlist and finish her swimming career before selecting a specific role in the Air Force, she was intrigued. Four months after her team’s silver-medal win last summer in Paris, she traveled to Texas to begin boot camp.

“I remember telling my dorm mates that this was the longest I’d ever been out of a pool,” she says. The training, she notes, “prepared me to return to my team as a better leader and a better person.”

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Alvarez has since pivoted back to practicing for the 2025 world championships in Singapore in July, while looking ahead to the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A. She dreams of another moment on the podium — and is plotting her Air Force career.

“I have aspirations to continue serving after [2028]. But right now the passion for my sport is still there. I’d do it forever if I could,” she says. “While I cherish my time as a professional athlete, it is also very exciting to have something to look forward to when that time is up.”