Exposing the lies of one of sports' greatest frauds.
Nyad adds to the monumental epic-ness of her Cuba-to-Florida “swim” by claiming that she hadn’t swum a stroke in 30 years. But she swam at least 2237 strokes in the 1996 Alcatraz Sharkfest.
Diana Nyad has stated numerous times that she didn’t swim a stroke for three decades before beginning to train for Cuba-Florida, version 2.
From Find a Way, p. 117…
The dream was still alive for me now, at age sixty, but I hadn’t swum a stroke in thirty years.
The New York Times Opinion section’s Facebook Live event with Diana Nyad on Friday left plenty to talk about. I’d expect nothing less from a storyteller of Nyad’s caliber.
Update, 29 June 2019: Last August, the NY Times quietly issued a “correction” to a critical paragraph of the op-ed. Nyad’s detailed description of the time, date, and location of the first episode of alleged abuse (see previous post) now reads, “That summer, on the day of a swim meet, I went over to Coach’s house for a nap.”
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Diana Nyad’s conversation with Alicia Wittmeyer of the New York Times is the most disturbing thing I’ve heard from her. That’s saying a lot given the quantity of Nyad material that I’ve listened to in the last few years. The smugness, the fluidity of truth, the Trumpian rhetoric—it’s all there. But now she’s using her own alleged abuse to latch on to others’ horror in order to satisfy her own needs.
Nyad’s stories often shift from telling to telling. This time was no different. Continue reading →
Nyad’s recent piece in the New York Times contains a number of inaccuracies that cast a shadow over the validity of her allegations.
Update, 7 Sep 2019: Integrated new evidence from “New Evidence….” Edited post for readability.
Update, 29 June 2019: Last August, the NY Times quietly issued a “correction” to a critical paragraph of Nyad’s piece. The location of the meet (see below) now reads, “That summer, on the day of a swim meet, I went over to Coach’s house for a nap.” The Times left all of Nyad’s other questionable assertions intact.
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All quotes come from Nyad’s article unless otherwise noted.
"That summer, our school hosted the state championships. It was a big deal, and I was a star in the middle of it all. In between the afternoon preliminaries and the night finals, bursting with confidence, I went over to Coach’s house for a nap." (Archived at Internet Wayback Machine and at Later On.)
The final entry examining Diana Nyad’s bizarre response to being caught in her Manhattan lie.
After being recognized as the first woman to swim around Manhattan in both highly regarded press and swimming circles...
Diana, Diana, Diana: we’ve been through this already. It never happened.
The first of three entries examining Diana Nyad’s bizarre response to being caught in her Manhattan lie.
In 2011, CNN caught Diana Nyad lying about being the first woman to swim around Manhattan Island. In response, Nyad did not apologize for—nor even acknowledge—her deception. Instead, she posted a blog entry full of excuses, justifications, irrelevant information—and more lies.
Continue reading →
Nyad’s “Fearless!” performance contained much of her usual crowd-pleasing poppycock, but she hit the mother lode with her original take on protective headgear.
As per my previous post, Diana Nyad appeared on the New Yorker Festival’s Fearless!: Life on the Edge panel on Saturday, October 7. Except for her religious conversion (see below), I heard nothing new…with one important exception: Ms. Nyad’s “Titanium Cap of Will.”
I hadn’t planned on writing anything about the event, but a Titanium Cap of Will? All quotes below come from Nyad at Fearless!.
Continue reading →
Diana Nyad wants fortune, fame, and adoration. To ensure acquisition thereof, she exaggerates and lies.
Early in her career, Nyad was more candid than she is now about her career goals. From a 1975 interview:
I would not deny that the day to day motivations are fame and fortune…. I want very much to be recognized.
Diana Nyad says that everyone who’s anyone has tried to swim the Florida Strait. Is that true?
From the Brink of Midnight podcast, #9:
All the great swimmers of the ocean have tried [to swim from Cuba to Florida]—male, female, young, strong, fast…. [28:05]
Complete nonsense.
So how many have attempted the swim? Besides Nyad herself, I count five:
