Her face and lips swollen from Portuguese man o'war stings, marathon swimmer Diana Nyad tried to remain positive about all she had accomplished in two years of training for record-setting attempts at a Cuba-Florida swim.
The disappointment at giving up on her dream, though, was as raw as the welts left by the jellyfish-like creatures' long, stinging tentacles
"It's going to hurt my pride so bad when someone swims across that thing, and it wasn't me," the 62-year-old told friends who greeted her boat, Sunluver, at a Key West marina Sunday night.
Nyad quit Sunday morning after 40 hours swimming past sharks, barracudas and men o'war in the waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys. She could have fought through bad weather or medical problems, she said, but her medics said more man o'war stings might have killed her.
"It's such a bitter pill. I am so capable of that swim. That's the end, though" Nyad said.
Wearing a white bathrobe, the 62-year-old pushed up the sleeves to show a long, red, cross-shaped welt on her right forearm.
"Those damned jellyfish," she said.
Nyad said she had been in even better shape than when she attempted the same swim last month. She received oxygen and a steroid shot from her doctors while treading water as she recovered from the stings. She tried to fend off more stings by wearing long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and a full facial mask, with just her hands, feet and lips exposed.
Trial of Michael Jackson's Doctor: Jury Seated
Watch Video Dan Abrams on Steven Powell and Dr. Conrad Murray
Watch Video Her lips were stung, and Nyad joked that her swollen mouth rivaled actress Angelina Jolie's famous pout.
The man o'war tentacles swept across her "like something out of a sci-fi movie," she said.
She kept swimming even as she felt paralysis stiffening her back, she said, because visions of Florida kept her going.
"I'm only human and I'm allowed to say I'm mad that it turned out this way, I'm very disappointed," she said.
"When you want something, you picture it, and I pictured seeing that Florida coast. The lights, the palm trees, I pictured it for so long. Go back to 1978, I pictured it a long time," Nyad continued. "It's hard to let go of, but I can, and I will. I'm not going to call you guys and say I'm doing it again. Mainly because of the way it ended."
Nyad ended her swim after swimming 130,098 strokes over 40 hours and 67 miles, according to her website.
Throughout the swim, her team posted her progress on her blog, Facebook and Twitter. Dozens of well-wishers posted responses, calling Nyad an inspiration even after she quit swimming.
Her team tentatively scheduled a press conference in Key West for Monday morning.
Nyad was making her second attempt in as many months at the Cuba-Florida crossing, a lifelong dream that she first tried as a 28-year-old back in 1978, when she swam inside a steel shark cage for about 42 hours before ending the attempt. A cage-less attempt this past August fell short when, gasping for breath, Nyad threw in the towel after an 11-hour asthma attack she blamed on a bad reaction to a new medicine.
Australian swimmer Susie Maroney successfully swam the shark-filled waters from Cuba through the Straits and to the Keys in 1997, though she used a cage. Nyad was trying to become the first to finish it without a cage.
沒有留言:
張貼留言