The world was in awe Monday after 64-year-old Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, covering 110 miles in just under 53 hours.
It took five attempts to reach her goal. Her first try was in 1978, when she was 28 years old.
Sometime between then and now, Great Bend residents recall, Nyad visited our community. She was inspiring long before she made this successful swim. In 1974 she set a women’s record in the 22-mile Bay of Naples race, and in 1975 she swam 28 miles around the island of Manhattan in just under 8 hours. In 1979 she set a world record for distance swimming (both men and women) over open water, going 102 miles from North Bimini Island, Bahamas, to Juno Beach, Fla., in 27.5 hours.
After failing the Cuba to Florida swim in 1978, she did not attempt it again until 2010. But she remained physically and mentally fit.
Then, with the mental toughness of a mature woman added to the strength of an athlete, she attempted the feat each year until she was successful. It was her “fifth and final attempt” – as if someone would continue attempting what they had already done.
When Nyad reached the shore of Key West, Fla., on Monday, she had three things to say: “One is, we should never ever give up. Two is, you’re never too old to chase your dreams. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.”
By the end of the week, critics had emerged. They questioned whether Nyad really completed the historic swim under “English Channel Rules.” In 1997, Susie Maroney made the same Havana to Key West swim in 24 hours, 31 minutes – less than half the time she expected it to take – but critics claimed she was towed by her shark cage. Nyad defended her, saying, “I think she is awesome. The issue of the shark cage is always controversial. I got flak for it when I used one in 1978.”
We hope the critics are proved wrong, and Nyad is vindicated, as there is no doubt she endured a grueling and dangerous ordeal in pursuit of her dream.
Whatever the outcome, we’ll remember what Nyad said Tuesday on the “Today Show”: “It doesn’t matter ... what you come up against because none of it’s going to be pleasant. You’re hardly ever out there going, ‘Oh, my God, isn’t it a beautiful moon tonight?’ The crew is feeling that. But you’re kind of suffering through the whole thing. So my thought was, ‘everything you come up against say – and this is why people are relating to my story – all of us suffer heartache. All of us suffer difficulties in our lives. And if you say to yourself ‘find a way,’ you’ll make it through.”