Diana Nyad /ˈnaɪˌæd/ (née Sneed; born August 22, 1949) is an American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer.

[5][6] Her crossing from Cuba to Florida was not conducted under the supervision of an organized sporting association, and ratification of the accomplishment was later denied by the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) for various reasons including incomplete observer logs with a 9-hour undocumented gap in observations, conflicting crew reports, nearly a decade of delay in providing documentation to seek formal ratification, dubious claims about the rules followed for the swim, and "backdated and falsified documentation".

[6][7] Guinness World Records initially certified Nyad's achievement, but revoked its certification after considering the findings by WOWSA.

[8] Her 2013 swim and partnership with athlete and businesswoman Bonnie Stoll were dramatized in the 2023 film Nyad, based on her 2015 memoir Find a Way.

[8][9] Nyad was born in New York City on August 22, 1949, to Lucy Winslow Curtis (1925–2007)[10] and stockbroker William L. Sneed Jr.

After graduating from Pine Crest School in 1967, she entered Emory University, but was expelled for jumping from a fourth-floor dormitory window wearing a parachute.

[25] After graduating from Lake Forest College in 1973 with a degree in English and French, Nyad then enrolled in a PhD program for Comparative Literature at New York University in 1973 and also pursued her marathon swimming career.

Nyad has written four books:[26] Other Shores (1978) about her life and distance swimming, Basic Training for Women (1981) describing a physical fitness program for women, Boss of Me: The Keyshawn Johnson Story (1999) about NFL wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, and Find a Way (2015) about her quest to swim across the Florida Straits.

Nyad and former professional racquetball player Bonnie Stoll formed a company called BravaBody which is aimed at providing online exercise advice to women over 40.

Nyad played in the 1979 Women's World Open Squash Championship, where she lost in the first round to Swedish player Katarina Due-Boje.

At 8:19 AM the next day her handlers helped her back on board, still about 10 miles (16 km) from land: she said she felt "tired and dehydrated" but still "strong" and "easily able to swim another 20 hours without any problem.

"[40] On July 10, 2010, at the age of 60, she began open water training in preparation for a 60-hour, 103-mile (166 km) swim from Cuba to Florida, a task she had failed to accomplish thirty years prior.

[43] While training in St. Maarten, she sat for an interview that was published March 25, 2011, by the island's online news agency, The Daily Herald, remarking that "It's a large operation, like an expedition.

She was joined by key members of her support team on June 28, to wait for ideal weather conditions that typically occur only during the summer doldrums in July and August.

[47] Writing in her blog in July 2011, Nyad stated that the development of the submerged guide streamer, in early summer 2011, may be the single greatest aid to her marathon swim.

[49] Nyad stopped her attempt early in the morning on August 9 at 12:45AM after 29 hours in the water, after encountering strong currents and winds that pushed her miles off course to the east.

[52] Nyad and her team ended the swim at 12:55 a.m. on August 21, 2012, reportedly because of two storms and nine jellyfish stings, after having covered more distance than her three previous attempts.

[55][54] While not directly questioning the authenticity of her story, some skeptics, including experienced marathon swimmers, requested the swim's GPS history, surface current, weather, and Nyad's eating and drinking data.

[58] After Nyad's September 10 response to questions and her publishing path data and notes from her navigator and two observers, a University of Miami oceanography professor, Tamay Ozgokmen, confirmed the navigator's statement that favorable Gulf Stream currents explained Nyad's apparently incredible total velocity during certain portions of the swim.

[59] On September 10, 2013, Nyad appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show explaining that while she swims she remembers Stephen Hawking books, sings, counts numbers, and has vivid hallucinations of The Wizard of Oz and the yellow brick road.

[61] The New York Times public editor observed on September 19 that the focus had shifted from serious questions about possibly resting aboard a boat, to more technical issues relating to whether her crew members touching her, and her wearing a protective suit, rendered the swim "assisted".

In 2022 the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) issued a comprehensive report, updated in 2023, amassing a trove of information available detailing Nyad's 2013 crossing.

She assisted on a segment that detailed real-life, current reenactments of both kayakers and a swimmer attempting to traverse San Francisco Bay.

[68][69] As discussed above, Nyad's 2013 crossing from Cuba to Florida has never been formally ratified due to the lack of independent observers, incomplete records, and other irregularities.