Openly gay endurance swimmer Diana Nyad, 61, was hoping to arrive in Key West sometime Wednesday after a grueling 60-hour swim from Cuba, completing a journey she started 33 years ago when she first attempted the feat at the age of 28. Instead she arrived Tuesday by boat, only making it about halfway. Ocean swells, shoulder pain and asthma forced her to abandon her goal.
CNN reported Nyad was vomiting when she boarded the boat, but still in good spirits.
"I am not sad. It was absolutely the right call," she told CNN afterwards. Later she posted on Twitter, "It felt like this was my moment. I don't feel like a failure at all. But we needed a little more luck.” And in another tweet she said, “It's hard because I felt like I had it in me."
Nyad first attempted the swim from Cuba to Florida in 1978, but weather foiled her attempt after 42 hours. A year later in 1979 she completed a record 102.5-mile swim from Bimini in the Bahamas to Juno Beach.
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