Regardless of what people might think, in my opinion, athletics impacts an individual's life in more ways than one. They enable athletes to learn and carry attributes for the rest of their lives, such as; persistence, hard work, dedication, allegiance, and being able to put trust in others. World-class swimmer, motivational speaker, and world record holder, Diana Nyad is a perfect example of all that. She’s an inspiration story for sure. After retiring at thirty years old from a failed attempt on her life dream to swim from Cuba to Florida non-stop, Diana vowed to never do another stroke in the water as long as she lived. At Sixty four years old, however, she triumphed that dream. Proving that not only is there no age to stop chasing your …show more content…
At a young age her parents divorced and just a few years after, her mother, Lucy remarried a man by the name Aristotle Nyad. He legally adopted Diana and her siblings, and their fresh start at a new life was off to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It all soon ended though, Aristotle wasn’t the man they all thought he was. At eleven years old, Diana was molested by the man she knew as her father. Due to the lack of relationship with the her mother, she had no one to turn to. Diana‘s reaction around her family became very qualm and twinge. She sought out an escape from her home life. As a result, she soon learned that she had a natural talent for swimming, when she tried out for the school’s team in seventh grade. Swimming became her sweet escape. It meant she no longer had to be at home in the mornings, the evening, and even the weekends. She was dedicating every moment she could to swimming, not only to be away from home, but to gain the title of a champion as …show more content…
Cuba hadn’t left her heart and she wasn’t ready to give up. At the age of sixty, thirty one years since the last time she swam, she was ready. At the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Florida, she started with a twenty minute swim, not knowing if her ability to swim was still in her. Within months, she was up to four hours at a time. She then began to question, could her body withstand the conditions of the cuban swim, could she stay in the water for seventy sum hours. Knowing there would be pain and suffering she was still able to tell herself, “You have this in you, you do. It’s more than in your body, that’ll come around. It’s in your soul, it’s in your heart. You can do this.” Many professionals who caught wind of Nayd’s decision to attempt this swim didn’t believe it could be done. At one point she received an email from a sports medicine doctor saying he personally didn’t think that what she was about to do is humanly possible. It made her more determined, training increased to eight, ten, twelve, and fourteen hour swims at a time, in order to prepare her body to hold up in cold water .Then she moved her training to Key West, in favorable weather conditions she started on a twenty four hour swims, taking vessels out into the waters. Best friend and fitness trainer Bonnie Stoll, joined Diana’s journey along with many others. Five “Handlers” to feed and motivate