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Dramatic underwater rescue of unconscious swimmer captured in photographs

<p dir="ltr">The dramatic rescue of Team USA swimmer Anita Alvarez has been captured by underwater photographer Oli Scarff in a series of photos that make for a moment-by-moment replay.</p> <p dir="ltr">Alvarez was performing in the artistic swimming solo free final at the 2022 World Aquatics Championship in Budapest when, at the end of her swim, she became unconscious and sank to the bottom of the pool.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-01548cc8-7fff-8bb9-08a0-7e9ed3b7fe5e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Head coach Andrea Fuentes quickly sprang into action, diving into the pool fully clothed and swimming down to grab Alvarez.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It was a good scare,” Fuentes told Spanish sports newspaper <em>Macra</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I had to dive in because the lifeguards didn’t do it. I was scared because I could see she wasn’t breathing.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c768b9ad-7fff-b3c4-cf03-c7d3e2e2b8ae"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Fuentes then brought Alvarez to the pool’s surface, where another swimmer helped take the unconscious athlete to the edge of the pool.</p> <p dir="ltr">Alvarez was lifted out of the water and onto a stretcher so she could receive medical attention.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a statement, Fuentes confirmed that Alvarez had a medical emergency but that “all is okay”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The doctors checked all vitals and everything is normal: heart rate, oxygen, sugar levels, blood pressure, etc … all is okay,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We sometimes forget that this happens in other high-endurance sports.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We have seen images where some athletes don’t make it to the finish line and others help them to get there.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Our sport is no different than others, just in a pool, we push through limits and sometimes we find them.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Anita feels good now and the doctors also say she is okay. Tomorrow she will rest all day and will decide with the doctor if she can swim free team finals or not. Thank you for all your well wishes for Anita.”</p> <p dir="ltr">This isn’t the first time Alvarez has experienced a medical emergency in the pool, nor is it the first time Fuentes has saved her.</p> <p dir="ltr">Alvarez briefly lost consciousness at the end of a routine while at an Olympic qualification event in Barcelona last June, where Fuentes dove in to rescue her.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 25-year-old came seventh in Wednesday’s competition with a score of 87.6333, with Japan’s Yukiko Inui claiming victory having scored 95.3667.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1d8743d9-7fff-d5de-90ba-85bf48e13c84"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Oli Scarff (Getty Images)</em></p>

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What it was like to share a prison cell with Anita Cobby's murderer

<div> <div class="replay"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>A former convict has shared a chilling glimpse into the mind of one of Australia’s most notorious murderers.</p> <p>Sydney man Greg Fisher was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in jail for corporate fraud and drug-related charges, including using and dealing cocaine and crystal meth.</p> <p>When he got incarcerated in 2005 at the Lithgow Correctional Centre, he was allocated a cell with an inmate whose crimes had been described as “one of the most savage and brutal … the state has ever known”.</p> <p>Only later did Fisher find out that the man on the top bunk of his cell was John Travers, one of the five men who abducted, raped and killed Sydney nurse Anita Cobby in 1986.</p> <p>“I hadn’t put two and two together,” he told <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/jailed-sydney-businessman-reveals-what-it-was-like-to-share-a-cell-with-notorious-killer-john-travers/news-story/1cb9241c3f0e6997c1984bbe54410c50"><em>news.com.au</em></a>. “I think I was numb anyway from the first six months I was in jail.”</p> <p>But even without knowing Travers’s true identity, Fisher said he could tell that his cellmate “simply wasn’t normal”.</p> <p>“The thing that struck me immediately was his eyes,” said Fisher. “He had eyes like I’d never seen before. Before I spoke to him, it was like I could see through them to the back of his head.</p> <p>“There was no reflection. There was no emotion. There was no soul, and I’m not a spiritual-type person at all. It was absolutely like a physical thing that I could see to the back of his head. He simply wasn’t normal.”</p> <p>He finally found out who Travers was from another inmate. </p> <p>“I immediately worried and called my lawyer and the governor,” he said. “The governor came to see me and said: ‘Look, he’s a model prisoner, and it’s up to you. I can move you if you want’.”</p> <p>However, Fisher decided against moving out due to fears that it might put him “on show”, making him a target to be beaten by other inmates.</p> <p>“It was confronting to say the least because John’s never to be released, so that’s his home,” he said. “I was given the ground rules by him straight away. I had to take the top bunk and everything had to be kept meticulously tidy. I accepted the rules, therefore we got on well.”</p> <p>Fisher said they began getting to know each other afterwards. He said Travers showed no feelings of guilt over raping, torturing and leaving 26-year-old Cobby to die at a rural farm in Prospect, NSW.</p> <p>“He kept saying he wanted to get a group of law students and a professor to take him on as a project to get him released,” said Fisher.</p> <p>When asked whether he would like to apologise to Cobby’s family, Travers said his prison sentence was enough of a punishment already. </p> <p>“He said it was all about his future now, and there was absolutely no indication of remorse,” said Fisher.</p> <p>“He was the victim now, in his eyes, because he’d been there too long.”</p> <p>In a 2015 interview with <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/greg-fisher-property-developer-turned-drug-dealing-convict/6697466" target="_blank"><em>Life Matters</em></a>, Fisher said spending time behind bars with Travers made him feel conflicted. </p> <p>“John was pretty decent to me, and almost protective. But he also sickened me. So it was very mixed emotions for me.”</p> <p>Fisher was released from prison in 2012 and has since worked for charities such as Our Big Kitchen and Thread Together.</p> <p>In 1986, Travers and four other men captured Cobby near Blacktown railway station and took her to Prospect, where they beat, raped and slit her throat.</p> <p>The five men were later arrested and charged with a range of offences in what was dubbed “<a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/how-anita-cobby-s-murder-destroyed-her-husbands-life/" target="_blank">the trial of the century</a>”. The crimes prompted public outrage and some calls for the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-22/anita-cobby-killer-michael-murphy-dead/10836460" target="_blank">death penalty</a> to be reinstated. </p> <p>In 1987, the men were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

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Anita Cobby's sister speaks out following killer's death: "I did feel lost"

<p>The sister of Anita Cobby has spoken up after one of the late nurse's murderers died in jail.</p> <p>Michael Murphy, one of the five men found guilty of raping and murdering the 26-year-old nurse and beauty queen in 1986, died from liver cancer at Long Bay hospital on February 21.</p> <p>Cobby was walking home from Blacktown station, Sydney in February 1986 when Murphy and the other men dragged her into a stolen car and took her to Prospect, where they raped her and slit her throat.</p> <p>Cobby’s sister Kathryn Szyszka has opened up to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.9news.com.au/2019/02/22/17/50/a-current-affair-anita-cobby-sister-kathryn-szyszka-killer-michael-murphy-dead-latest-news-australia" target="_blank"><em>A Current Affair</em></a> about the heartache of losing her older sibling in an interview broadcast on Friday.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en-gb"> <p dir="ltr">Tonight - no one's crying over the death of Michael Murphy. He was one of five men who raped and murdered Anita Cobby in 1986. Crime Editor Simon Bouda spoke Exclusively with Anita's younger sister...Kathryn. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/9ACA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#9ACA</a> | WATCH: <a href="https://t.co/skQ682nKlx">https://t.co/skQ682nKlx</a> <a href="https://t.co/6smS241o0R">pic.twitter.com/6smS241o0R</a></p> — A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) <a href="https://twitter.com/ACurrentAffair9/status/1098856329496662016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">22 February 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Szyszka was only 20 years old when Cobby died. "I think I was fairly lost," she said of the time following her older sister's death.</p> <p>"She was my role model, I followed her, everything she did … Being so young and having her always leading the way for me, I did feel lost."</p> <p>However, Szyszka was unfazed by Murphy's death in custody. "If I'm to be honest, actually, not a lot went through my mind because I haven’t given these criminals much time or thought over the years," she said.</p> <p>On the other hand, Cobby's widower John said he hoped Murphy's death "was <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/how-anita-cobby-s-murder-destroyed-her-husbands-life/" target="_blank">painful for him</a> … One down, four to go."</p> <p>Szyszka said she still feels Cobby's absence nevertheless. "The times I have missed with her, the very important times in life you share as a family … I miss just having her there to be a part of it, to share, to have someone to talk to, bounce things off, just things you do with family."</p> <p>Szyszka said their parents, Grace and Garry Lynch, had "never" gotten over Cobby's death until their deaths in recent years. "I know mommy used to have sleepless nights," she said.</p> <p>"I think any parent would understand the impact that it did have, the loss of a child in such a horrific way. They did suffer."</p> <p>In June 1993, Grace and Garry created the Homicide Victims Support Group along with Christine and Peter Simpson, the parents of murdered nine-year-old Ebony Simpson. The group is currently working to establish Grace’s Place, a world-first trauma centre that is set to focus on children and young people who lost their loved ones to homicide. </p>

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How Anita Cobby’s murder destroyed her husband's life

<div> <div class="replay"> <div class="reply_body body linkify"> <div class="reply_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>One of Anita Cobby's murderers died in jail on Thursday night.</p> <p>Michael Murphy was one of the five men who were found guilty for raping and killing the 26-year-old nurse and beauty pageant winner in Prospect, NSW in 1986.</p> <p>Upon hearing the news, Cobby's widower John <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/anita-cobby-killer-michael-murphy-dead/news-story/9e2b033e8255012448cd37664caaaabf" target="_blank">said</a>, "I hope it was painful for him. One down, four to go."</p> <p>John Cobby first met Anita Lorraine Lynch at Sydney Hospital in 1980, when they were both studying nursing.</p> <p>John was immediately smitten with the then 20-year-old woman. </p> <p>"God she was beautiful, and I thought far too good for me," John told Mark Morri in the book <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=7FiLCwAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=ANITA+john+cobby&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjQppG8qM7gAhVggUsFHUnzCiAQuwUILTAA#v=onepage&amp;q=ANITA%20john%20cobby&amp;f=false"><em>Remembering Anita Cobby: The Case, The Husband, The Aftermath – 30 Years On</em></a>.</p> <p>"I was thinking to myself, 'She will never go out with me.'"</p> <p>To his surprise, Anita was similarly interested in him. The two went on to have their first date in a Lebanese restaurant in Surry Hills, where they would soon become regulars.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 179.747px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7823945/johna-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/4870d40c15f5419c982144338caf80f5" /></p> <p>John and Anita got married in March 1982. A few years later, John won $10,000 at the horse races and followed Anita’s dream to travel to the US, having the trip of their lives.</p> <p>However, when they returned home in 1985, things started to get rocky. The pair found that they were at different stages of their lives and wanted different things. The two decided to take a break, leaving their rented apartment in Rockdale to move back to their families' homes.</p> <p>On Sunday, February 2, 1986 Anita informed her mother that she was having dinner with some work friends. She also rejected John’s invitation to see him that night due to her plans that evening. After dinner, Anita was dropped off at Central Station, where she took the train back home to Blacktown.</p> <p>On February 4, 1986, John went home from his shift at the hospital feeling slightly anxious, as his wife had missed work the day before. Then the news came on the car radio, announcing the ominous: "The naked body of a young woman has been found in a paddock at Prospect in western Sydney."</p> <p>He found an emergency phone and called Anita's parents' house. He did not know whom he got connected to; all he could remember was hearing, "You've got to get back here, John", before returning to his car and speeding towards Blacktown.</p> <p>It turned out that on the night of the dinner, Anita had been walking home from the Blacktown train station when five men dragged her into a stolen car and took her to Prospect, where they raped and slit her throat.</p> <p>Before the discovery, John had risen up as the prime suspect. The investigators went from asking thorny questions to making relentless accusations. At one point, John finally relented, "Yep, I did. Must have."</p> <p>However, despite the confession, some officers believed that it was an act of random violence. The investigation finally reached the five men, who were then convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 in what the media called "<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-22/anita-cobby-killer-michael-murphy-dead/10836460">the trial of the century</a>".</p> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NpTiOmihAQQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <p>John remained haunted even after the sentencing. "My life, my family's life and Anita's family will suffer for the rest of our lives,” Cobby told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/special-features/in-depth/john-cobby-i-should-have-been-with-anita/news-story/ebc778748ba1ab88dacce0229ef445f0?utm_content=SocialFlow&amp;utm_campaign=EditorialSF&amp;utm_source=DailyTelegraph&amp;utm_medium=Facebook&amp;fbclid=IwAR1GPvypakTjty9ijJpQlxqzyHOw5pHYYEOKTBIBKIJvlnMK9FoFSMzGDu8" target="_blank"><em>The Daily Telegraph</em></a> in 2016. </p> <p>"I blamed myself for her dying and still do. I should have been with her," a despaired John admitted. </p> <p><span>He changed his name to John Francis and gave only one interview in 1987 before disappearing from the public's eye. He left Australia to work in England but then returned to Australia and changed his name back to Cobby in 2016.</span></p> <p>Do you remember the Anita Cobby murder case in the 1980s? Tell us in the comments below.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

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Dev and Anita Patel’s precious mother-son moment at the Oscars

<p class="canvas-atom"><em>Lion</em><span> star and Oscar-nominee, Dev Patel, was shining throughout the Oscars with his mother standing right best him for the duration of the night. </span></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><span>The London-based mother and son walked the red carpet, sat next to each other and smiled at each while the Oscars night entailed. </span></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><span>For all parents it is special to see your children be honoured in their chosen industry but for Anita it must have been extra special.</span></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><span>When her 26-year-old son was in school she pulled him out to attend auditions, proving she saw his potential to make it big.</span></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><span>In various interviews Dev has said that the reason for his success is his mother. </span></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><span>“The reason I’m in the industry is because of her,” Dev told </span><em>The Guardian.</em></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><span>Although many celebrities have taken their parents as award-show dates there was some that feel so special about the way he smiled and locked eyes with her when his name was announced as a nominee. </span></p> <p class="canvas-atom"><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/entertainment/movies/2017/02/celebrities-facial-reactions-to-the-oscar-mix-up/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Celebrities’ jaw-dropping reactions to the Oscar mix-up</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2017/02/hidden-figures-cast-bring-out-katherine-johnson-oscars/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Hidden Figures cast bring out NASA’s 98-year-old Katherine Johnson at the Oscars</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2017/02/michael-j-fox-and-wife-tracy-pollan-stun-on-oscars-red-carpet/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Michael J Fox and wife Tracy Pollan stun on Oscars red carpet</strong></em></span></a></p>

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