The True Story of Diana Nyad's Controversial Swim
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The brand-new film Nyad, streaming now on Netflix, stars Annette Bening as swimmer Diana Nyad. It follows Nyad's attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida, which she first tried in 1978 at age 28, twice more in 2011, and then finally achieved in 2013 at age 64. The film is based on her memoir, Find a Way: The Inspiring Story of One Woman's Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream.
Find a Way: The Inspiring Story of One Woman's Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream
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After completing her 110-mile swim, Nyad recounted to The Guardian, "I remember coming out and seeing the faces of the crowd on the beach just so emotionally wrought. I realized afterwards, they weren’t weeping because somebody finally made it or somebody set some sports record. They were weeping because they saw someone who refused to give up. And everyone has experience of that, whether it’s fighting cancer or raising a difficult child or whatever."
Despite this incredible athletic feat, there was some controversy around her, and her swim. Her crossing was never formally ratified by the World Of Open Water Swimming (WOWSA), or recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. WOWSA detailed their issues with the swim in a report published in September 2023, summarized as follows:
The failure to have in place, prior to the attempt, established rules and standards for the ratification of the swim.
The decision to depart from established rules and standards traditionally followed in English Channel crossings.
The decision to declare a record after the swim without formal ratification of the swim.
The suggestion made, following the undertaking of the swim, that the swim had been completed in conformity with rules and procedures promulgated by an organization, Florida Straits Open Water Swimming Association (FSOWSA), which did not formally exist at the time of the swim.
"I thought we had provided all the proof we needed," Nyad told The Los Angeles Times this summer. "And maybe I had too much hubris, like, ‘I don’t need to prove this to anybody.’ That’s my bad. But it wasn’t to obfuscate the rules. We were never told, ‘You’ve got to do this or you won’t be ratified.'"
The New York Times reported soon after Nyad completed her swim that "fellow swimmers unleashed a barrage of censure and doubt," explaining, "Swimmers asked: Was she truly unaided during all those hours in the open sea, with only her crew observing? Based on her GPS data released by her team, how did she manage to swim nearly 53 hours, crossing 110 miles, given that her average speed was 1.7 miles per hour at the start and end of the swim? And were her two handpicked independent observers truly independent?"
Nyad herself has strenuously denied any accusations that she cheated on her swim. "I’m an absolutely aboveboard person who never cheated on anything in my whole life, When someone does something they’ve been trying to do for a long time and you know how difficult it is, it’s only logical. I hope they’re not questioning if I’m an honest person," she said. Others have argued that the disparity in speed was due to water currents during her swim, and her two observers have denied that she got any help.
Nyad directors looked into the controversies before making the film. "As documentary filmmakers, the first thing we did was to look into some of these criticisms—and found that they weren’t valid," co-director Jimmy Chin told Vanity Fair. "When you are at the forefront of your sport, you have a target on your back. Especially if you’re an outspoken athlete like Diana might be considered."
Co-director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi added, "I’m just a little tired of the internet trying to tear down a woman who’s complicated and outspoken and owns who she is. We went to great lengths in the film to be able to live up to that. She is a complicated person who has a complicated life." Of Nyad's take on what happened, Vasarhelyi says, "We don't say, ‘It’s based on a true story,’ we don't say, ‘It is a true story’—but it is a true story. It’s about this idea of truth."
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