Diana Nyad Fact Check Annex

I became, in the 1970s, the best ocean swimmer in the world. I held all the major records on planet Earth, out in the open sea.
—Diana Nyad, Wilshire Ebell, 7 Oct 2019

Diana Nyad arguably held a record in one major 1970s ocean swim — the Capri–Naples race — but she never completed any others, much less held records in them. In 1976, she attempted the major ocean swim on the planet, the English Channel, three times and failed three times. She never came close to being the best swimmer of the decade.

However, between February and April of 2019, someone vandalized Openwaterpedia — the self-styled “Wikipedia for the open water swimming world” — to make it look like she was.

The culprit used an ingeniously simple ploy, replacing every “7” with a “6” on the entries of the legitimately great swimmers of the 1970s. This effectively moved their 70s swims into the 60s.

The culprit made two other replacements as a diversion: “3” for “4”; and the Cyrillic “s” for the Latin “s” in every occurrence of “openwaterswimming,” thereby breaking every openwaterswimming.com link.

Those changes and the alterations to over 3000 other Openwaterpedia entries provided a smokescreen that obscured the saboteur’s goal: Make Diana Nyad’s best-of-the-70s lie appear true.

Until a few weeks ago, I couldn’t be sure who went to so much trouble for Diana, though it seemed like it could be only one person: Steven Munatones. He’d performed other shady jobs for Nyad, some of which dovetail with the Openwaterpedia vandalism. The packet of documents he sent to the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF), presumably to prompt them to both ratify Nyad’s Cuba–Florida crossing and nominate her for induction, was timed to arrive just after the vandal subtracted a decade from most of the greatest swims of the 1970s. After the ISHOF scheme failed, he used Openwaterpedia to falsely ratify Nyad’s Cuba endeavor.

But I didn’t have absolute proof that Munatones — International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee, World Open Water Swimming Associaton co-owner, and Diana Nyad’s most steadfast defender in the marathon swimming community — was responsible.

I do now.
Continue reading “Free Solo Confidential: How The Openwaterpedia Vandal Gave Himself Away”

In the late 1970s, director Gary Weis created short films that aired during episodes of SNL. The 1976 Christmas episode included one about Diana Nyad. The three-minute montage killed the otherwise festive holiday vibe:

At the time, Nyad’s repertoire of untruths was small compared to what it is today. But she managed to sneak a few in.

Continue reading “The DNFCA Christmas Special: “My Emergence Is What It’s All About!””

In the late 1970s, boundary-breaking performance artist/comedian Andy Kaufman began challenging women to wrestle.

In August 1979, Diana Nyad swam from Bimini, Bahamas, to Jupiter, Florida. As you’d expect, she immediately began exaggerating and lying about her feat: She said that she was the first to do it, she had swum over 100 miles, it had taken over 40 hours, her press boat—a big yacht—had “a slew of photographers leaning over the railings,” and she had set a new record for the world’s longest swim.

None of that was true.

I don’t know when Kaufman first challenged Nyad to a match, but it may have come in response to Nyad’s post-Bimini bluster. Unfortunately, she never accepted.

Fortunately, Kaufman challenged Nyad on camera at least twice.

Continue reading “DNFCA Hanukka Special: A Latka For Diana”

Early in the podcast, Diana Nyad tells a story about her sixth-grade graduation. I didn’t question this tale when I first heard it last year. This time, though, something felt off. Maybe it was her “little patent leather shoes,” a curiously specific detail from someone who claims to not remember anything from childhood. In fact, makes her lack-of-memory claim a few minutes after telling her detailed graduation story (6:19). Consistency is not one of Nyad’s strengths.
Continue reading “Grow Further Interview, Part 2: Diana Nyad And The Case Of The Vomiting Valedictorian”

Above: Detail from Miami Herald, 31 July 1978. According to an article published the following week, Nyad’s company “Cuba Swim Inc has a 24-member staff [and] is bigger, gaudier and costlier than anything like it before.”

In the second part of Diana Nyad’s Grow Further interview, she describes her upcoming biopic as an orgy of opportunity:

I have a fairly long list of things that, if that movie is going to have a moment, if it’s going to be recognized, and win some awards, etc., which means my story will be out there again and have a bit of a moment again . . . (10:34)

. . . she’s going to take advantage of that moment:
Continue reading “The Grow Further Interview, Part 2: Cuba Swim, Inc.”

In 1976,  Diana Nyad told the Village Voice that she lied all the time, but only to impress herself, adding, “I don’t have to do that anymore.” In other words, Nyad admitted to being a compulsive liar—that she had to lie—but claimed she could stop.

She doesn’t, however, say she won’t. That’s because she can’t. Nyad’s as reliable as the tides: every appearance carries with it new untruths and novel variations on old ones.

In part 2 of Nyad’s Grow Further interview, she reaffirms her position as one of the most prolific and convincing liars in sports history. From nonsense about a 70-year-old film to a sixth-grade classmate barfing in the bathroom to “a little something” with Annette Bening, Diana Nyad can’t stop. Continue reading “The Vomiting Valedictorian And Other Tales From Diana Nyad’s Grow Further Interview, Part 2”

In Diana Nyad’s first published interview since the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) issued its “Diana Nyad Cuba-Florida Swim 2013 Report,” Nyad mainly crows about her storytelling chops while sharing her sometimes reasonable, sometimes repugnant tale-telling tips.

Continue reading “5 Essential Learnings From Diana Nyad’s CVSHealth/Grow Further Interview, Part 1”

Lisa Amorao died on May 29, 2022, while swimming in California’s Monterey Bay. I didn’t know Lisa outside of her social media presence. Tributes to her often emphasize the sweetness and positivity of that presence. Last year, though, she took on Diana Nyad and pissed her off enough that Nyad responded.

An independent investigator recently concluded an exhaustive reexamination of Nyad’s crossing. In particular, she looked at the World Open Water Swimming Association’s (WOWSA) ostensible ratification of Nyad’s endeavor. Two weeks ago, WOWSA uploaded the final report to its website. Among its conclusions: Other than the organization’s founder (Steven Munatones) sowing confusion, it had nothing to do with Nyad’s endeavor. Neither WOWSA nor any other organization ratified, recognized, sanctioned, oversaw, or otherwise consecrated Diana Nyad’s crossing.^[1]

In light of that finding, I offer the following to honor another side of Lisa Amorao.

(I posted an earlier version of “How Dare You?!!!” on Facebook four days after Lisa’s comment.)

Continue reading ““How Dare You?!!!!”: What Happened When A Skeptic Challenged Diana Nyad On Her Home Turf”

From a revised version of her marathon swimming origin story to a new tale about her paternity and the Hellenic Hall of Fame, Diana proved again that she’ll never let veracity get in the way of a good story. Here are the highlights:
Continue reading “5 Highlights From Diana Nyad’s No Barriers Interview”

Last month, an ad for Wondrium began appearing in my Facebook feed. “Stop wasting your time fact-checking,” it admonished. Sit back, listen to “over 8,000 hours of carefully vetted content,” and learn, learn, learn.

Wondrium began life as The Great Courses in 1990. A year ago, it renamed itself to reflect its move beyond academic presentations and into other areas like self-improvement. On June 2, its 5-part “Achieve Your Potential”  series debuted. Scientist and educator Crystal Dilworth hosts all five, including Diana’s installment, “Never Give Up.”

I should have ignored Nyad’s advice and given up before it was too late. But Wondrium’s ad gave me hope. Maybe Wondrium would do what Nyad’s publisher didn’t; what the producers of the Nyad biopic didn’t; and what everyone else who has ever presented a Nyad program didn’t.

Continue reading →