Dianna Nyad had an Olympic dream when she was in high school because back then she was very interested in swimming and she was the champion of various games. However, she could not realise her Olympic dream when she was diagnosed with a serious illness. Instead of losing herself in disappointment and desperation, she took up marathon swimming as a new career. As a long-distance swimmer, she would compete against herself and the obstacles brought by distance, danger, cold and exhaustion.
After ten years' devotion, she came to the top and became one of the worlds best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women's record for the course. In 1975 she became world famous for swimming around Manhattan Island. A few years later, she set another record by swimming 102. 5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida, USA.
In 1978, Nyad made an attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. The journey was full of unknown dangers. She was confronted with all kinds of obstacles for about two days in the water, and then she had to give up halfway for the sake of her own safety. No one looked down on her. Instead, the world was impressed by her bravery and strong desire to succeed. For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reaching Florida. That was how she defined success. It did not matter that her swim turned to be short: she believed she had touched the other shore.
After retirement, Nyad did not stop challenging herself and trying new things. She started to travel the world as a reporter, publishing books and making public speeches to inspire more people, which seems to be her duty right from the beginning when she swam the waters of the world.
