Severe conditions thwart Nyad's Havana/Florida swim
By: Nancy Cook
Updated: August 21, 2012
Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad's latest attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida ended
this morning (8-21, 2012) after severe jellyfish stings and a lightning storm
put her off course, according to CNN's Havana bureau.
Nyad was about halfway through her swim from Cuba to Florida and had been in the water more than 60 hours.
Overnight, the 62-year-old swimmer had been stung by jellyfish and along with a major lightning storm put that anyone in the water in extreme danger, went into the decision to throw in the towel, according to Mark Sollinger, Nyad's operations chief.
"With all the threats continuing, Diana decided that it was not a risk that we wanted to take," Sollinger said.
Nyad's lips and face are swollen, but she is holding up "as well as someone who just spent 63 hours" performing a "monumental and extremely dangerous" feat, Sollinger told CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien."
Sollinger described her achievement as "huge," despite having to stop before she reached Florida.
"It's a cross between being down, being so tired because everyone wanted this so much, and a huge sense of accomplishment," he said. "Nobody in the world would even attempt this, but we did."
This was Nyad's fourth attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida. The full distance from Havana, Cuba, to Key West, Florida, is 103 miles.
