Diana Nyad Ends Her Quest

To Diana Nyad's legions of supporters all over the globe, it was a sad moment early today when a shoulder injury, asthma and fickle weather conditions forced her to end her attempt to swim 103 miles from Havana to Key West.

"It felt like this was my moment. I don't feel like a failure at all," Nyad says in a Twitter post this morning, about eight hours after she decided to end her swim, in part, because of powerful currents that were pushing her off course. "But we just needed a little more luck."

Of course, 61-year-old Nyad always knew that that her remarkable quest -- she was attempting to become the oldest swimmer to swim from Florida to Cuba, and the first to do it without a shark cage -- was dependent not just upon almost superhuman endurance and swimming skill, but also the vagaries of environmental conditions. To reach Key West, she would have needed a convergence of optimally warm ocean temperatures, continuously calm seas and fair weather for nearly three days straight.

After 29 hours in which Nyad battled through rough waves and coped with shoulder pain and asthma symptoms, a 10- to 15-knot current forced her off course. CNN reports that Nyad, beset by nausea, finally decided for her own safety to get out of the water at 12:45 a.m. Eastern time.

Nyad later told The New York Times that the combination of an injured right shoulder and an asthma attack made her journey seem impossible. At midnight, she said, "It was over, I knew it -- my body was at its absolute very end. Will power wasn't a part of it anymore."

After handlers wrapped her in blankets to ward off the hypothermia that was an ever-present threat during the swim, Nyad rested and eventually ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs before arriving in Key West at about 9:30 a.m., according to her Twitter posts.

Nyad swam for 29 straight hours in the open ocean, completing about half of her journey in the Florida Straits. And she proved that it is possible for an athlete in her sixties to return after several decades of retirement and compete -- essentially, against her younger self -- at an elite level. Envision Michael Jordan returning once again to the NBA as a player 10 years from now, and you can begin to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge Nyad took on.

Moreover, Nyad has reminded us of the importance of reaching high, taking chances and concentrating on doing rather than worrying about the outcome. She could have picked a less daunting body of water to transverse, one that posed less of a risk to her ego and public image. Instead, she blithely aimed for something beyond what she had accomplished in her twenties, even though that meant venturing into an uncharted region of human endurance.

This morning, Nyad's Facebook page is filled with messages from many of her nearly 11,000 fans and well-wishers, thanking her for the inspiration she has provided.

"Still so moved by your efforts...you are a hero to so many of us," one woman wrote.

"You did amazing! Damn, I get tired after 20 laps," another chimed in.

One quoted from the late minister and educator Benjamin Mays: "The calamity is not to dream."

Yet another wrote: "I feel the joy of you reverberating out to all of us. To me, that sounds like the best possible definition of success." You'll find more about the swim at Nyad's blog.

September 2011 update: Diana Nyad Attempts Cuba-Florida Swim. Again. and Jellyfish Stings Too Much Even For Diana Nyad's Iron Will