“The Cuba swim is the greatest endurance feat in human history, but if anyone can do it, I can,” Diana Nyad (b. August 22, 1949) told a New York Times reporter in 1978, shortly after she captured the world’s attention by swimming around the island of Manhattan. She was 28. This declaration of courageous bravado is something one would expect from Thomas Edison or Muhammad Ali, but 35 years later, after four failed attempts and a lifetime of resilience in the face of great emotional and p...
