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I have only one problem with Diana Nyad's historic 53-hour swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida: there's no video proof of the entire swim. She's using a live-blog as proof of the historic swim.
I was initially happy to hear about the historic swim (girl power!), however, without video proof of such an incredible feat, I am now somewhat skeptical of her claim. Ms. Nyad claims that she didn't document the 53-hour swim with more video cameras because after four failed attempts, most of the world had given up on her Nyad defends record-breaking Cuba-U.S. swim against doubters - chicagotribune.com.
She also states that her own family was like, "Please Diana, just give this up." Ever heard of volunteers? I find it hard to believe that she couldn't round up 5 – 10 volunteers on this Internet-based planet to help record such a historic attempt on video. It just doesn't make sense, to me.
Ms. Nyad says that she "never ever knew that we would not be trusted." Huh?!! Are we supposed to blindly trust athletes in 2013 ? Athletes cheat all the time – Lance Armstrong and A-Rod immediately come to mind. She's an athlete (US long-distance swimmer). She's a 64-year-old female athlete who set a new world record (allegedly) for the longest-distance (110 miles) nonstop, unassisted ocean swim from Cuba to southern Florida without a shark cage.
Why wouldn't you record something incredible like that in this age of cheating athletes? If you'd been a member of her team, would you have brought this up (cheating athletes) during the planning process? Would you have selected a live-blog, instead of 5 video cameras, as the best method for recording and proving a 64-year-old woman's fifth and only successful attempt at a record-breaking, 110-mile/53-hour swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida ?
I'm truly skeptical of her swim now, and as a woman that's very disheartening to actually admit .
From the link in the OP, rebutting that she got REALLY lucky with a gulf stream current that essentially pulled her along at a good clip in the middle of her swim.
Quote:
She and her supporters have said that she got a significant boost from a favorable Gulf stream current - a contention that independent experts who study the ocean currents in the region agreed with on Tuesday.
Mitchell Roffer, who runs a Melbourne, Florida-based ocean fishing forecasting service, said Nyad caught a swift, north-moving current, and then turned east out of the current at precisely the right moment.
"To me, it was an oceanographic lotto that she hit," Roffer told Reuters. "You can't get much luckier than she did."
"The current, which was pulling her in north-northwestern flow, was as perfect as you could get," Roffer said. "It would explain why her speed was faster during that period."
So I don't know. I certainly want to believe she did what she said she did.
And not to pick nits in the OP...
Quote:
Ms. Nyad says that she "never ever knew that we would not be trusted." Huh?!! Are we supposed to blindly trust athletes in 2013 ? Athletes cheat all the time
But the article clearly states that she was not referring to athletes in general, but of the skepticism of her peers in the (apparently) small community of extreme distance swimmers.
Quote:
it became clear she was hurt by the skepticism of colleagues in the tiny global community of marathon swimmers.
"I never ever knew that we would not be trusted," she said.
So far I don't have a reason not to believe that she did what she did; that one article is not really convincing.
But if it turns out she cheated, well that would be disappointing indeed.
I guess I just don't care enough to be skeptical, but the OP makes good points, none of which I even knew about. It's wonderful to achieve your goals but, good grief, what purpose does this silly woman serve? The attention this non-event got was way over the top, imo. I think if her peers don't trust her, it's their problem and they're probably just jealous. None of it matters in the slightest to 99.99% of humanity.
I don't really get the concept behind these "endurance" swims, or runs, or climbs. Why would you swim from Cuba to the USA when there's a perfectly good boat just 10 feet away at all times. Seems pretty wasteful and pointless.
What would impress me is if somebody just tossed on a pair of trunks and swam across the English Channel or something (without safety equipment or boat escort) to save money over taking a ferry or the Chunnel.
I heard her interview and explanation. She seems credible, but I have to admit to wondering whether it was just the current helping her as she clearly flailed toward the end, or the boost from the boat(s) riding her rear.
And if she did have a video of it, someone would be saying it was faked and pointing out that certain frames were duplicates and that they saw the same fish swim by twice, and that she had a body double and...
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? Athletes cheat all the time – Lance Armstrong and A-Rod immediately come to mind. She's an athlete (US long-distance swimmer). She's a 64-year-old female athlete who set a new world record (allegedly) for the longest-distance (110 miles) nonstop, unassisted ocean swim from Cuba to southern Florida without a shark cage.
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