A Spanish swimmer died without help (7)
I believe the answer is:
unaided
'without help' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a spanish swimmer died' is the wordplay.
'a spanish' becomes 'una' ('a' in Spanish).
'swimmer' becomes 'ide' (type of fish, something that swims).
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'una'+'ide'+'d'='UNAIDED'
(Other definitions for unaided that I've seen before include "Without extra help" , "Quite without assistance" , "having received zero help" , "Dun aide being without help" , "Without help or assistance" .)