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Christi Barli / Florida Keys News Bureau via AP
Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad is aided after she was pulled out of the water between Cuba and the Florida Keys early Tuesday.
Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad abandoned her latest attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida early Tuesday, after being hampered by more jellyfish stings and strong overnight storms.
Angie Sollinger, a senior member of Nyad’s support team, told NBC producer Matt German that Nyad has been pulled out of the water suffering from extreme exhaustion.
The team made a collective decision to pull her out. "It was time,” Sollinger said.
She had planned to land somewhere in the Florida Keys on Tuesday, a day ahead of her 63rd birthday on Wednesday, Reuters said. But it would have taken her another 28 to 40 hours to complete the crossing at the time she finally gave up, Sollinger said.
Christi Barli / Florida Keys News Bureau via AP
Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad rests after she was pulled out of the water between Cuba and the Florida Keys early Tuesday.
After leaving the Havana shore on Sunday morning, Nyad dealt with jellyfish stings on her neck, lips, hand and forehead as well as a nasty storm that rolled in Sunday night.
Earlier, Sollinger told TODAY host Matt Lauer that the 62-year-old was deciding whether to continue her fourth attempt at crossing the Straits of Florida.
Nyad back in water in Cuba-Florida record swim try
“She’s not on the move. She’s in a holding pattern while she’s checked out. She is under care. She experienced some jellyfish stings."
Diana Nyad, who was making her fourth attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida, was forced to abandon her journey due to stormy weather and physical exhaustion. NBC's Mark Potter reports.
Asked who would decide whether the attempt would be abandoned altogether, Sollinger said: “That is her call, unless there is some huge challenge. Unless she’s incoherent, that’s her call.”
Nyad wanted to become the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. The swim has been completed once, in 1997, by Australian Susan Maroney, who was 22 and used a shark cage.
Reuters
Map showing route of Diana Nyad's attempted swim from Cuba to Florida
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If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.
What an asinine comment. Many people have tried to accomplish major feats and failed numerous times before finally succeeding. If everyone had your attitude many of the great feats in history might never have been accomplished. I give Nyad a lot of credit for even attempting this swim at the age of 62. Many people her age would be hard pressed to swim ten laps in an Olympic sized pool let alone attempt a swim that is over 100 miles. I do not know if she will try again or not. She has made a number of attempts in the last few years and has not been able to complete the swim. It may just be out of reach with all of the factors that affect this type of swim. Between the jellyfish, the weather, and the currents this is an extremely difficult task to accomplish. There is a good reason that many have tried and no one has yet succeeded. I would hate to see her give up on this dream, but it may just be something that is beyond hr reach at this point. After all 62 is getting up there in age for the sport of endurance open water swimming.
Third time she's been in the news, third time she's failed. She's had her 15 minutes of fame. THREE TIMES. Get her out of the news until she actually accomplishes something.
UDunnoBro
"If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style."
Sounds like a comment from someone who never had the guts to try anything difficult ! A comment from the basement couch !
UDunnoBro sounds like a jealous failure.
He may be jealous, he may be a failure (I don't know) - BUT YOU COLLAPSED THIS?
WTH?
Not me. I'd rather everyone see such a comment from an idiotic loser.
I agree with "The Truth and Nothing But The Truth." It's getting a bit ridiculous now. I understand determination, but continually risking your life for this?? Sounds like the definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over the same way, while expecting different results.
Ibidem
Those jellyfish really hurt. Maybe next attempt should be a shark proof and jellyfish proof cage!
Its an admirable effort by a very amazing woman, but its time to stop. She hasn't even gotten close on any of her tries, is she planning on doing this until she gets hurt or killed trying? She has pushed way beyond the boundaries of what most women half her age can do. But I hope she realizes she has done enough - even super-humans have boundaries.
Seems like she should just let it rest. The environment is just too unpredictable, especially if she does not want a shark cage.
Having a little trouble understanding why she would attempt this swim during hurricane season when the weather and the sea is so unpredictable?
is this a bid to proove you don't even need a boat to steal the futures of so many Americans? another example of invasive species getting into Florida
Pretty sure the article says it's SUSPENDED and not aborted... Don't people read anymore?
"Nyad has been pulled out of the water suffering from extreme exhaustion"
Not your fault, secret titan. The media also used the word suspended after her second attempt. Must be the politically correct way to say "She failed again".
The GOP primary candidates also SUSPENDED their campaigns, did you expect them to resume?
15 minutes of fame? Do you even know who she is? Do some research.
I so very much admire this lady!!!! What an accomplishment wether she finishes or not. What she has done at her age is amazing. The fact she would even try is even more amazing. She has sure given it her ALL. I would have to think of her as a real winner.
I saw her on the news real early this morning. This segment was apparently a few days before she attempted this again failed endeavor. I think she's delusional, eyes darting about etc. Maybe a nice long rest at a small mental health facility should be considered.
Get some cocoa puffs 'naiad'
What is this nut trying to prove? She could have donated all that money wasted on this stupid project that keeps failing to some poor starving people around the world instead of trying to achieve some selfish feat. Just what does she gain by accomplishing what she is trying to? It is obvious she wants the spotlight on herself. I think she is being selfish and stupid. If the media quit putting the spotlight on her I am sure she would not have bothered to attempt this drama over and over again. Next time she jumps in, let her get bitten by jellfish, shark or whatever and let her sink, which will end the story once and for all.
Well aren't you the little ray of sunshine?
why so much hate?? ..it would be extremely hard to accomplish something like this by a young person, let alone a 62 yr old woman..in my eyes she's awesome..
and why are these non-event attempts continuously reported on??? for a real riveting tale of human achievement, i need matt and a crew down here stat as i make my 47th death- defying attempt to paint one wall of my tiny den in less than an hour. naturally, i have taken all the appropriate safety precautions, and will be painting from within a spatter-proof cage, wearing full haz-mat breathing apparatus, and have my cardiologist right here at arm's length. with good fortune, the wind at my back, and my trusty four foot wide paint roller, i may yet vanquish this heretofore unattainable barrier and bask in the well-deserved glory i am sure awaits me.
cute. I like your humor.
SO DO I! LOLOLOL.... Too funny Barry, too funny!
I'm thinking that mother nature may be trying to tell our ms. Nyad something--like "Hey lady!Stop trying to swim to Cuba".
They say a picture is worth a thousand words....Silence of The Lambs come to mind when I see that first photo.
Time for this senior gal swimmer to hang-up the swim fins. It just ain't gonna happen for her,now or ever. At least she'll have the lone entry in the Guiness Book of Records as "most failed attempts at swimming across the Florida Straits". She gave it a shot and couldn't do it. Let's hope to god she doesn't try this stunt again.
Wow, haters gotta hate. How sad that your lives are so pathetic that you've never tried to do something difficult--even impossible--just for the sheer challenge of it. Is Nyad's reach exceeding her grasp? Probably. Is she delusional? Maybe. But I have way more admiration for her than for the types who sit on their butts all day, eating Cheez-its and watching reality shows on TV.
Nyad is trying to accomplish something no one else ever has. What are you doing with your life?
evidently, as you do, we all enjoy that ability we have to share opinions and make comments. It does not mean we watch reality shows and eat junk food. There......there.....we simply enjoy putting our two cents out .....freedom of speech. The woman is dying for attention and feels she has to leave a mark. She could become a second mother Teresa.....it certainly would get our respect and her validation as a human being. Putting others first is always a good thing.
lasvegastim, take your "holier-than-thou" BS and post it elsewhere. You're probably the one sitting on your a$$ eating cheez-its and watching reality shows. The rest of us are sane enough not to risk our lives 3 times for something as trivial as this.
This is a boring story ... It was boring the first time, it was boring the second time, and its still boring! Sorry, nothing but an old jock punishing herself to try to relive some past glory. How about a story about someone who is actually doing something for someone else, not just stroking her own ego?
So why bother? I don't think you mean what you say. Let's give this woman credit for doing something she wants to do. She harms no one and demonstrates a hard fact about the natural world.
She looks like she is nearly dead. I think the old body is giving out while the spirit lives on. She needs to pass the torch and unwisely-spent money to someone younger or in better shape. She's had enough chances and does not even come close. A for effort though!
She is a fool
Is she ever going to call it quit ? she needs to focus on staying alive instead of reaching for a goal she evidently cannot make. Reality check....woman. How important is it really ? Look at me everyone....I won !....oops....not. So what ? to stay alive is a bigger goal than a silly stunt and certainly deserves more respect.
She doesn't need a shark cage. In cases of 'legitimate shark attack' the human body secretes a substance noxious to sharks that prevents the whole thing.
Haha! That's just awesome!
LOLOLOL! Good one jim!
Which is why the Cuban Government has issued a proclamation denying a fourth attempt, it seems you can't get that noxious smell out of a wetsuit and it is a natural Jellyfish aphrodisiac.
Who cares about this ridiculous venture? What's next, be the first to swim across Lake Erie? What a waste of oxygen.
What a waste fo time and money. I know all you people think she is just wonderful and an amazing woman blah blah blah. why doesn't she use all that energy and resources to do somehting useful like work for Habitat for Humanity or meals on wheels. If she ever did accomplish the swim so freaking what? No one but a bunch of kackle baby woman wuld even care about how much like a man she had been. Now I hope with this post I have pissed a bunch of people off because i got up on the wrong side of the bed today and i just don't feel good so the hell with you all. Blahhhhhhhhhh!
did you run out of Viagra ?
O.K. so you think this was a waste of time. Then why read about it and comment on it? I believe Ms. Nyad has shown us something about the possibility of survival of a person in the water in the open ocean that is, not much.
With all due respect -- I don't have the strength or the courage to attempt 1/100th of what she has undertaken -- I think it's time for the press to spend a little less time and money covering Diana Nyad.
Another deluded femme.
Tell us about your jellyfish adventure. You may actually have set the record for someone dumb enough to stay in the water long enough to be entirely repelled by jellyfishes. Call the Guinness folks NOW and be a
a WOMAN FAMOUS FOR SOMETHING - ANYTHING......DESPERATELY FAMOUS
yeah, we know - we all got the memo, vagina good, penis baaaaad.
and at least half of us have enough sense to know that jellyfish sting, and some of the most PAINFUL stings on earth.
the other half just have wishful thinking goin' for them.
Jellyfish are the victors, here.