Diana Nyad Ends 2nd Attempt to Swim from Cuba to Florida

Diana Nyad Ends 2nd Attempt to Swim from Cuba to Florida Havana, Aug 9. – U.S. open-water swimmer Diana Nyad decided to end her second attempt to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Florida as she reached the halfway point. After 29 hours of swimming, the 61-year old Nyad had to stop due to backache, heavy swells and asthma symptoms that did not allow her to optimize her breathing capacity.

Elaine Lafferty, on the one of the support boats, reported in her Twitter account that the combination of factors was too much to safely continue, and the athlete herself decided to stop swimming.

Lafferty said the weather conditions conspired against the attempt, with winds of 5 to 10 knot and less-than-ideal currents.

Along with the athletic aspect of the swim, Nyad said in a recent interview that her aim was to do her bit in working for better relations between Cuba and United States.

She would have been the only person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, trusting completely in technology and shark divers.

The swimmer told CNN that she was not sad about ending her swim, and that it was the correct decision.

Nyad previously tried to swim across the Florida Strait in 1978 and had to stop due to adverse weather.(Prensa Latina)