In her fifth attempt since 1978, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad completed her quest to swim from Cuba to Florida on Labor Day 2013.
The 64-year-old athlete made history as the first person to finish the 110-mile trek without a shark cage. She was exhausted and sunburned as she made her way to the shoreline of Key West as the hour neared 2 p.m. – having been in the water for 53 hours.
She stepped before a microphone briefly and offered her three truths, “We should never ever give up, you’re never too old to chase dreams and it looks like a solitary sport but it’s a team.”
Before she was taken by ambulance to a hospital for evaluation, she told an NBC reporter, “I’m beaming with pride.”
According to her team blogger, with two miles to go in her ocean quest, Nyad paused to thank her team, “This is a lifelong dream of mine and I’m very glad to be with you. So let’s get going so we can have a whopping party.”
The long distance swimming veteran began her monumental journey on Saturday morning and arrived a day earlier than originally estimated. She received this tweet from President Obama, “Congratulations to @DianaNyad. Never give up your dreams.”
Hear what she had to say to her fans shortly after stepping onto the beach at Key West:
Photos: Facebook-Diana Nyad