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61-Year-Old to Swim From Cuba to Florida

Diana Nyad aims to make up for incomplete 1978 journey

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted May 26, 2011 5:43 PM CDT

(Newser) – She managed to swim all the way around Manhattan, but when Diana Nyad tried to swim from Cuba to Florida in 1978, she didn’t finish the job. Now, she’s preparing to try again—at age 61, the Washington Post reports. “I have no idea what age I am,” she says. “I don’t feel different in any way.” She knocked off a 24-hour training swim last year, but the trip to Cuba is expected to take 60 hours.

“There are people who do endurance for this long, but not in the water and not isolated like this," says her doctor. "You can’t provide her with things that you could provide a land athlete with.” In 1978, she was pulled out of the water onto a boat full of journalists after almost 50 hours. This time, she’ll have a team of weather experts and her doctor floating with her. “The science” of endurance “has moved on quite a bit,” her doctor says. “But the one thing that’s the same is, 98% of it will be Diana and her determination.” She hopes to make the swim in June or July.

Diana Nyad participates in a panel, Sports: The Athletes As Role Model, at UCLA April 25, 2009.
Diana Nyad participates in a panel, "Sports: The Athletes As Role Model," at UCLA April 25, 2009.   (Getty Images)
Swimmer Diana Nyad speaks onstage during the 30th Annual Salute To Women In Sports Awards at The Waldorf-Astoria on October 13, 2009 in New York City.
Swimmer Diana Nyad speaks onstage during the 30th Annual Salute To Women In Sports Awards at The Waldorf-Astoria on October 13, 2009 in New York City.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 12 comments
Brass
May 28, 2011 7:13 AM CDT
As an ex-endurance cyclist I have just a hint of what drives her. Yet, she is a league of her own... Pushing the limits of human endurance, mentally and physically beyond what anyone else has ever done! A truely amazing person... I hope she makes it.
getherdone
May 27, 2011 10:57 AM CDT
More power to her.  I hope she makes it this time, I hope I look this fit when I am 61.
billcrawford
May 27, 2011 7:50 AM CDT
"61-Year-Old to Swim From Cuba to Florida." How about she swims from Florida to Cuba and takes back all the Cuban criminals and drug dealers Fidel sent to America and that are now running and ruining Miami, there's a thought.

 
swimming • endurance sports • long distance • swimmer • Diana Nyad

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