Diana Nyad

Diana Nyad (born August 22, 1949 in New York City ) is an American long-distance swimmer.

Life

She was the first person to swim from Havana in Cuba to Key West in Florida without a shark cage . On September 2, 2013, the then 64-year-old long-distance swimmer reached the US coast after 177 km and 53 hours in the water. Nyad is an openly lesbian.

Attempts to cross

Routes of the individual attempts

Nyad's successful attempt to swim the distance in 2013 was her fifth attempt. She made her first attempt with a shark cage in 1978. She had to abandon her second attempt without a cage in 2011 because of shoulder pain and an asthma attack. A third attempt, carried out in the same year, was stopped by jellyfish stings. On her fourth attempt in August 2012, she had to be pulled out of the water after 41 hours after a squall and repeated jellyfish stings made it impossible to continue swimming.

The then 22-year-old Australian Susie Maroney had already successfully swum the Florida road from Havana to Key West in 1997 , but with the controversial cage to protect against sharks , which critical voices claim a beneficial change in the flow conditions in the water. Nyad commented very positively on Maroney's performance following her success, despite a wealth of criticism.

literature

Diana Nyad , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 02/1980 of December 31, 1979, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Report in the Tagesschau from September 2, 2013 ( Memento from September 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Report in the BBC of September 2, 2013
Official website of Diana Nyad
Lecture by Diana Nyad

Individual evidence

↑ Joyce Duncan: Ahead of Their Time. A Biographical Dictionary of Risk-Taking Women Greenwood, Westport, CT, 2002, ISBN 978-0313316609 , p 247. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
^ New York Times : Reflections on a secret life in professional sports, September 12, 1999. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
↑ bbc .co.uk: US swimmer Diana Nyad, 64, makes Cuba-Florida crossing from September 2, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.
↑ Boca Raton News: Australian swimmer Maroney criticized for Cuba-Florida crossing May 14, 1997. Retrieved September 4, 2013.

personal data
SURNAME	Nyad, Diana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 22, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	New York City

[1] Joyce Duncan: Ahead of Their Time. A Biographical Dictionary of Risk-Taking Women Greenwood, Westport, CT, 2002, ISBN 978-0313316609 , p 247. Retrieved September 4, 2013.

[2] New York Times : Reflections on a secret life in professional sports, September 12, 1999. Retrieved September 4, 2013.

[3] .co.uk: US swimmer Diana Nyad, 64, makes Cuba-Florida crossing from September 2, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2013.

[4] Boca Raton News: Australian swimmer Maroney criticized for Cuba-Florida crossing May 14, 1997. Retrieved September 4, 2013.