{"id":200,"date":"2018-03-21T16:41:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T16:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2018\/03\/21\/nyads-lies-part-1-from-bimini-to-the-big-apple-the-lies-in-find-a-way\/"},"modified":"2024-01-16T22:01:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T22:01:15","slug":"nyads-lies-part-1-from-bimini-to-the-big-apple-the-lies-in-find-a-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/nyads-lies-part-1-from-bimini-to-the-big-apple-the-lies-in-find-a-way\/","title":{"rendered":"NYAD\u2019S LIES, PART 1: From Bimini to the Big Apple \u2014 the Lies in Find a Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 1<\/span>\u00a0| Part 2<\/a> | Part 3<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[NOTE:<\/strong> For a more extensive rummage through the lies in Diana Nyad’s memoir, please see “Unreliable Natator: Omissions, Exaggerations, and Lies in Diana Nyad’s Find a Way<\/em>.”<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Diana Nyad loves to tell stories. She loves to tell stories about big things (\u201cI was the first woman to swim around Manhattan\u201d<\/em>) and little things (\u201cMargie <\/em>and I\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0started eating all our dinners in Miami at Benihana\u201d<\/em>) and all sorts of things in between.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find a theme here and throughout all of Nyad\u2019s deceptions: she will say or do whatever she thinks will enhance her public image. She will distort the truth, ignore the rules, and slander other swimmers. She will diminish or disregard the achievements of other marathoners while claiming those achievements as her own. It\u2019s all okay in her book as long as it furthers the cause: the deification of Diana Nyad.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Inspired by the\u00a0New York Times\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>catalog of the fictions of another\u00a0disingenuous public figure<\/a>, I\u2019ve compiled a list of all the lies in Nyad\u2019s 2015 memoir, Find A Way<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Oops, that\u2019s a lie. I don\u2019t know enough to ferret out all<\/em> the fabrications in Find A Way<\/em>. Nor does the DNFC investigations unit have the funds to feed further ferrets. I hope, however, that the following list gives you a sense of Ms. Nyad\u2019s m\u00e9tier.<\/p>\n

The Lies<\/h1>\n

p. 16<\/strong><\/span> \u201cThe experts . . .\u00a0did report the box [jellyfish] usually delivers a fatal sting.\u201d<\/p>\n

They did not, and it does not.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

p. 27<\/strong><\/span> \u201c[Aris] claimed to speak seventeen languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s up by ten from 2005.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

p. 36<\/strong><\/span> \u201cThe Curtis family had come from a century-old successful clan of New Yorkers, starting back in the early 1800s with the first Lucy Winslow, one of the first female physicians in Manhattan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy Curtis nee Winslow, Nyad\u2019s great great grandmother, came from Maine. She didn\u2019t move to New York until sometime between 1850 and 1855, after the success of the patent medicine to which her druggist husband appended the name of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Charlotte Winslow. (See \u201cNo Syrup, No Swimmer.\u201d<\/a>) <\/em><\/p>\n

Lucy was not a physician, nor was Charlotte. (See relevant birth, marriage, and census documents<\/a> and \u201cMrs. Winslow\u2019s Credentials.\u201d<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

p. 36<\/strong><\/span> \u201c[Nyad\u2019s mother] was born in New York City in 1925, daughter of a wealthy, erudite man of society: businessman, artist, and college professor George Warrington Curtis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artist, yes; businessman, maybe; college professor, no. See more census data.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>p. 39<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Of William Sneed, Lucy\u2019s first husband and Diana\u2019s biological father:\u00a0<\/em>\u201cApparently Sneed was a worthless wretch.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0Mom gave him thirty minutes to pack and made him promise he would never again contact us. Her first business was to change our names legally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy Sneed\u2019s name <\/em>did not change<\/em><\/a> until she remarried.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

p. 41<\/strong><\/span> \u201cToday I\u2019m listed in all those books where people live out the meaning of their names, a phenomenon referred to by the term \u2018aptonym.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

I could only find one such book, Wacky News Names<\/a>. Nyad conspicuously misses the cut: The author mentions her name but details why he won\u2019t include her in the list. See \u201cSay it Ain\u2019t So, Diana!<\/a>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

p. 44<\/strong><\/span> \u201cIt wasn\u2019t long before I was the best back-stroker in the state of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was never the best backstroker in Florida<\/a>. <\/em>Parts of \u201cA National Title & A World Record (1966)\u201d<\/a> also address this claim.<\/p>\n

NOTE:\u00a0<\/strong>This is a favorite motif of Nyad\u2019s. In 1978, she wrote that her coach, Jack Nelson, \u201chelped me improve enough within that first year to become the best in the state of Florida at both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke\u201d (Other Shores<\/a>, p. 17).<\/em><\/p>\n

p. 45<\/strong><\/span> \u201cAge fourteen. The big state championships were at our school that summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nyad\u2019s school, Pine Crest in Fort Lauderdale, did not host the championships that year . They took place in Gainesville<\/a>, over 300 miles away. This fabrication introduces Nyad\u2019s sexual abuse allegations against her coach, Jack Nelson. I address these \u2014 and Nyad\u2019s questionable assertions surrounding them \u2014 here:\u00a0 Addressing Diana\u2019s Op-Ed<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

p. 51<\/strong><\/span> \u201cIt was my last 100-meter backstroke. . . . Top three would go on to compete for a coveted spot on the Mexico City team.\u201d<\/p>\n

To reach the Olympic trials, a swimmer must meet a time standard. Place means nothing.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

p. 53\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u201cEyes still closed, I take a deep breath, then look up to the board. I am sixth. I go over to shake hands with the three girls who are moving on.\u201d<\/p>\n

This again assumes qualification-by-place, <\/em>which doesn\u2019t happen.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n