Last November, Nyad spoke with Adriane Berg of “Generation Bold.”
As you might expect, Nyad peddled many of her usual lies and exaggerations. But she added a few new ones.
First, a creel of oldies:
They call it the Mount Everest of the earth’s oceans, that strait between Havana, Cuba, and Key West, Florida.” (2:50)
As mentioned frequently in these pages, only one person calls this swim “the Mount Everest of the earth’s oceans.” See “NYAD’S LIES, PART 1: From Bimini to the Big Apple & Beyond—The Lies in FIND A WAY.”
The great swimmers of the world had tried since 1950, including me as you mentioned, way back in 1978. (2:57)
See “Everybody’s Doin’ It.”
This version, however, benefits from the unctuous self-namecheck, which brings to mind Nyad anointing herself as one of the three best female swimmers in the world.
25 million people were following the Cuba swim by the end.(7:11)
See “Maybe She Meant to Say ‘Eggo’ Way.”
[On previous attempts I] already…could have died should have died from the box jellyfish. (14:30)
See “Not a Tentacle to Stand On.”
[I] made a world record swimming from Cuba to Florida. (27:00)
There ain’t no record of no record.
BERG: [Nyad is] the great swimmer [who] did a hundred-and-ten mile swim from Cuba—nobody’s done it. (21:09)
It will come as no surprise that Nyad did not jump in to correct Ms. Berg.
And I want this one wild and precious life to be as sterling and as uplifting as it can be.
That bird, for the “sterling” bit at least, has flown.
<°))̂)̖)>< ><((̗(̂(°>
And now, fresh eels for our courge:
But who else is going to swim, let’s say from Cuba to Florida? I guarantee you, I’m going to go to my grave—or my, you know, cremation moment—and nobody else will have done that swim. That’s how difficult it is to do.” (6:55)
That one’s not necessarily a lie (no pressure, Mr. Bellamy). But it’s so arrogant, and it goes so counter to her claims of humility, that I had to include it.
Last but not least. Maybe even monumental:
And they’re actually making a statue of me, a big bronze statue. And Key West, I told them when they make it that, when I’m 90, I’m gonna go and get a beach chair and sit under the shadow of the statue and, a people go by, say, “yup, yup, that’s me. (18:42 )
The jury’s still out on this one. She got herself a plaque, and there was talk of a sculpture/monument. I can’t, however, find evidence that the sculpture ever materialized.
I need more time to look into this but don’t want to miss the International Fact-Check Day deadline. So I’ll end with a photo of a genuine adventurer (along with two of my kids and one of hers, also adventurers) who deserved all of the statues that she got.
And she got a lot—more than any other woman in America—despite no one having a clue what she looked like.
