Diana Nyad, born in 1949, is one of the world's greatest long-distance swimmers. She started as a speed swimmer, winning races in high school and dreaming of the Olympics. However, Nyad fell ill with heart disease before she could compete in the 1968 Olympic Games and had to spend three months in bed. By the time Nyad was better, she was unable to swim as fast as she had previously.
Nyad then turned from speed swimming to distance swimming. Her first race was 10 miles in the cold waters of Lake Ontario. Even though she came in tenth place, she was the first woman ever to complete the course. In 1974, Nyad set a record while swimming a 22-mile race in the Bay of Naples, Italy. That same year she tried to swim back and forth across Lake Ontario, a total of 64 miles. Nyad made it across the lake, but on the return trip, she lost consciousness and had to be pulled from the water. In 1975, she swam around Manhattan Island, a distance of 28 miles, in a record of 7 hours and 57 minutes. Three years later she swam 102 miles from the Bahamas to Florida.
In 2010, at the age of 61, Nyad announced she would swim from Cuba to Florida. In order to train, Nyad spent as many as 14 hours a day swimming in the ocean. The swim from Cuba to Florida would last at least 60 hours and cover 103 miles. Unfortunately, bad weather forced Nyad to wait until the next year. In 2011, Nyad attempted the swim but was blown off course after being in the water for 29 hours. Nyad attempted the swim again a few months later, but she had to stop because of too many jellyfish stings (海蜇蜇伤）.
Despite these setbacks, Nyad continues to preserve and plans to eventually make the Cuba-to-Florida swim. She has made a vow (誓言）to never stop swimming and wants other older Americans to understand that it is never too late to make one's dreams come true.
