Mariana de Leon went straight into the water after stepping back during one of her moves and not realizing she was so close to the edge, going in feet first.

The crowd gasped and then cheered as one of her dancing teammates helped her out of the pool. The rest of the cheerleaders stop briefly but continued their act, and de Leon quickly rejoined the group, despite a wet uniform.

“I went too far back and just slipped,” the 21-year-old de Leon said. “It was a small accident, but I’m fine. The crowd even applauded me and cheered me up.”

She was among the 12 cheerleaders doing the pool-side routine to a version of the song “Lambada” when she fell in. One of her teammates immediately stopped dancing and raised her hands to the face when she saw de Leon going down.

De Leon tried to hold on to the pool edge after missing her step but it was too late.

“This had never happened to me,” she said.

Fellow dancer Armando Ayala said he was surprised when he saw de Leon in the pool.

“We were dancing and all of a sudden she was in the water,” he said. “She went too far.”

Sergio Aguirre, who is in charge of the cheerleaders, said the fall wasn’t a big deal and that de Leon was back dancing again in the night session of the swimming competition.

“She forgot the pool was right there behind her,” he said. “These things happen.”

De Leon kept smiling throughout and said she wasn’t worried.

“I’ll be fine,” de Leon said, “maybe the attention will bring me good things.”