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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

2nd attempt to swim from Florida to Cuba fails for 61-year-old Diana Nyad

Training for up to 12 grueling hours a day and battling all disagreeable conditions to prepare for this day, proved to be inadequate for 61-year-old Diana Nyad.

At 12:45 am this morning, Nyad was brought aboard a boat after she was unable to complete her 103 mile swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida. CNN reports that the currents were to blame for her inability to finish her journey.

CNN also reports that, Nyad was vomiting right before she was taken out of the water.

She was hoping to complete the swim in 60 hours, according to the CNN News Wire Staff, but it ended prematurely at 29 hours.

Let's not forget about other risk factors, including... SHARKS! She had no protection whatsoever. The fact that she made it 29 hours with a shark cage is a miracle in itself.

So what happened?

Via Nyad's Twitter account, her support team wrote

"Earlier in the evening, she was surrounded by dolphins and a beautiful Caribbean sunset. But strong currents blew her 15mph off course."

This was not her first attempt at this. "[Nyad] had also attempted to make the swim in 1978, at age 28. In that attempt, she lasted 41 hours and 49 minutes," according to The Wallstreet Journal. Nyad claimed that she was more fit than she was in 1978, and her training was more vigorous. However, she lasted 12 hours less this time around.

"I am not sad. It was absolutely the right call," Nyad said.

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