Born in 1949, Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion（冠军）. Like many young trainers, she had Olympic dreams, but a serious illness prevented her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn't stop her from going forward. Instead, she became interested in marathon swimming.
For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world's best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women's record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.
Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span(跨度) of water is less than 100 miles wide, it is rough and dangerous. After battling(与---作战) the water for two days, she had to give up for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so, she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. It did not matter that her swim came up short; she believed she had touched the other shore.
When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer, she continued to try new things---travelling the world as a reporter, writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others, just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.
