Diana Nyad
About
Diana Nyad is an American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer. Nyad gained national attention in 1975 when she swam around Manhattan in record time, and in 1979 when she swam from North Bimini, The Bahamas, to Juno Beach, Florida. In 2013, on her fifth attempt and at age 64, she succeeded in swimming from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida, completing the third known swim crossing of the Florida Straits after Walter Poenisch in 1978, and Susie Maroney in 1997. Both of those earlier efforts involved a shark cage and, in Poenisch's case, fins and several short rests on his escort craft. Nyad used a protective jellyfish suit, shark divers, and electronic shark repellent devices. Her crossing from Cuba to Florida was denied ratification due to incomplete documentation, conflicting crew reports and rules from an organization that did not exist at the time of the swim. Guinness World Records revoked Nyad's achievement.
