At 64 years old, Diana Nyad became the
first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage. The 110-mile journey took her nearly 53 hours to complete and was her fifth and final attempt at achieving her lifelong dream.
As Nyad swam to shore– severely dehydrated, sunburned, disoriented and exhausted—she shared this message: “I have three messages. One is, we should never, ever give up. Two is, you’re never too old to chase your dream. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it is a team.”
“Wow,” I thought to myself as I watched the news coverage. What a time to talk about team after 53 solitary hours in the water. Think about how alone you could feel. She talked about relying on mental tricks, like counting her strokes in different languages and mentally scrolling through her own “playlist” of 85 songs. To an outsider like myself, it appears to be an incredible individual feat, which is why it amazed me that her final message was that this was a team effort.
Nyad relied on a 35-person support team of high-tech experts to achieve her dream. They included a team of doctors who watched her health and navigators who kept her on course. The support team also had equipment that generated a faint electrical field, designed to keep sharks at bay. Nyad said that the five boats of team members were “working like a machine” throughout her trek. Divers continuously circled her to watch for sharks and kayakers surrounded her as she swam to create a protective barrier as best they could. She even had a jellyfish expert in the water who would scoop up the jellyfish to prevent them from stinging her. The support members monitored her health and wellness 24/7 throughout the swim, providing nutrition when possible and guiding her path for the entire 110 miles.
Nyad recognized that even the most solitary of achievements was not possible without a team behind her. With Key West in her sights, she halted briefly about two miles offshore to thank her support team for helping her reach her lifelong dream. She saw the finish line approaching for a dream she had harbored for over 30 years, but she took the time to pause and thank the people who helped make it all possible.
While her mental toughness and strength is truly admirable, I was most struck by her humility and gratitude for her team in what to most of us, appeared to be a moment of individual glory.
