According to the Associated Press a member of the Japanese Olympic synchronized swimming team fainted in the pool during competition. Twenty-three year old Hiromi Kobayashi of Osaka Japan apparently started to hyperventilate after the team’s routine was finished.
Two rescue swimmers jumped in the pool and helped Kobayashi’s teammates pull her to safety. The dramatic photos (click here ) and video (click here ) show a distressed young lady. According to a Japanese press officer she "hyperventilated because of stress… that kind of thing has happened to her before. She is a very nervous athlete". This could be true as her teammates did not seem alarmed by the whole thing.
The swimmer was not taken to the hospital and is doing fine now. Which is great news but one wonders how long she has been dealing with this issue. Stress is one thing, but fainting because of it is something else. Granted she was performing on one of the biggest stages in the world, but her anxiety levels must have been overwhelming. Performance anxiety is a normal phenomena among athletes, but when things get to this point it’s anything but typical. Could she of had a panic attack?
The likelihood that her fainting spell was more than just "stress" is pretty high. When people panic they don’t always flail their arms and look out of control. The Japanese swimmer appeared calm but the look on her face told another story altogether. Her hyperventilation is one of the most obvious indicators that she may have been experiencing a panic attack and not just hardcore butterflies. The unfortunate thing (aside from her terrible experience) is that most people watching really won’t understand what she was going through. They may forget about it quickly and not try to question or wonder why that happened.
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