{"id":163,"date":"2017-10-26T16:39:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T16:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2017\/10\/26\/dianas-great-surprise-part-1\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T12:53:42","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T12:53:42","slug":"dianas-great-surprise-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/dianas-great-surprise-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Diana\u2019s GREAT Surprise, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2011, CNN caught Diana Nyad lying<\/a> about being the first woman to swim around Manhattan Island. In response, Nyad did not apologize for \u2014 nor even acknowledge \u2014 her deception. Instead, she posted a blog entry full of excuses, justifications, irrelevant information, and more lies.
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The frequency of the falsehoods makes them difficult to catch. I missed most of them the first time through. I\u2019ve read it again many times since, finding fresh new fictions on each pass. In this post and the next two, I will look at as many of them as I can detect.<\/p>\n

Nyad subsequently removed the entry from her blog<\/a>. Thanks to the Internet Wayback Machine<\/a>, we can close our eyes, travel back in time, and read along as Diana Nyad revisits a glorious moment while fretting over a disconcerting discovery.<\/p>\n

Preamble<\/h3>\n
History Rewritten....to my GREAT Surprise!<\/strong><\/span>\r\n\r\nBlog for diananyad.com 6\/9\/11\r\n\r\nWhen I swam around Manhattan Island on October 6, 1975, I read about my own achievement in The New York Times and other NY publications the next day.<\/pre>\n
True. We\u2019re off to a good start.<\/p>\n
The paper of record at the time declared that I had both broken the 50-year-old record, for both men and women...AND that I had become the first woman ever to swim around the most famous island in the world.<\/pre>\n
From The New York Times<\/em><\/a> (presumably the paper of record) on the day after Nyad\u2019s swim:<\/p>\n
In 1959, Diane Strubel made the trip in 11 hours 59 minutes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So much for being the first woman.<\/p>\n
Also, it would be tough to break the record \u201cfor both men and women\u201d if no women had yet swum around \u201cthe most famous island in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking of \u201cmost famous\u201d things: Hyperbole is one of Nyad\u2019s favorite rhetorical devices:<\/p>\n