{"id":742,"date":"2019-10-05T23:15:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T23:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2019\/10\/05\/anatomy-of-a-1978-nyad-press-release\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T15:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:52:43","slug":"anatomy-of-a-1978-nyad-press-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/anatomy-of-a-1978-nyad-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy of a 1978 Nyad Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Above:<\/strong> The first and most easily debunked of the many lies in Diana Nyad’s July 1978 press release.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just before her first Cuba-Florida attempt, Diana Nyad and her PR firm, the Kalmus Corporation, sent out a press release to lure sponsors.<\/p>\n

Nyad wanted potential backers to believe that she was one of the greatest marathon swimmers on the planet, so she and her PR crew had to get creative.
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Above:<\/strong> A press release foreshadows half a century of lies.<\/em><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll take Nyad\u2019s claims one at a time. As we go through the document, please remember that while she was sowing these fabrications about herself, she was also broadcasting lies about Walter Poenisch. As Poenisch prepared for his ultimately successful Cuba-Florida attempt, Nyad demolished his reputation<\/a>, proclaiming to anyone who would listen that Poenisch <\/em>was the liar and the fraud. And almost everyone believed her \u2014 because she was Diana Nyad.<\/p>\n

Her duplicity cost Poenisch his sponsors, his spirit, and his good name. It cost Nyad nothing \u2014 until 1983 when Poenisch and his wife won an out-of-court settlement against Nyad and two other defendants.<\/p>\n

But the lawsuit didn\u2019t dampen Diana\u2019s duplicity. Bees will buzz, dogs will bark, jellyfish will sting \u2014 and Diana Nyad will make stuff up about the amazingness of Diana Nyad.<\/p>\n

And so, onward!<\/p>\n

DIANA NYAD<\/span>
\nWORLD CHAMPION MARATHON SWIMMER<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(Swam on the professional circuit for five years from 1970 through 1975 and was world champion all five years.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Nyad was named world champion once.
\n<\/strong>Nyad did\u00a0<\/em>swim the circuit from 1970 through 1975, but the World Professional Marathon Swimming Federation (WPMSF)\u00a0 named her world champion only in 1974.<\/p>\n

Here are the women\u2019s champions whom Nyad pretends don\u2019t exist (see Open Water Boek 2008<\/a>, p. 59):<\/p>\n

1970<\/strong>\u00a0 Judith van Berkel-de Nijs (Netherlands)
\n1971<\/strong>\u00a0 Shadia El Rageb (Egypt)
\n1972<\/strong>\u00a0 Shadia El Rageb (Egypt)
\n1973<\/strong>\u00a0 Corrie Dixon-Ebbelaar (Netherlands)
\n1974<\/strong>\u00a0 Nyad [1]<\/sup><\/a>
\n1975<\/strong>\u00a0 Angela Marchetti (Argentina)<\/p>\n

The five-years-a-champion tale repeats a familiar pattern: Nyad diminishes, denies, or ignores the accomplishments of other women, then claims those accomplishments as her own. We\u2019ll see this throughout.<\/p>\n

The Swims (not in order)<\/h5>\n
You can find complete results for most of the following events in these spreadsheets: results by year<\/a> | results by race<\/a>.<\/pre>\n
Lake Michigan
\n000<\/span>10 miles
\n000<\/span>(Successfully completed four times,
\n000<\/span>but no record)<\/span>
\n
\nNyad completed this race twice.
\n<\/strong>The Chicago Lakefront Festival marathon \u2014 ten miles in Lake Michigan \u2014happened only three times in the years from 1970 to 1975. Nyad swam in two of those races, finishing behind Sandra Bucha and Corrie Dixon both times.<\/p>\n
\n
Lac St. Jean in Quebec
\n000<\/span>25 miles
\n000<\/span>(Successfully completed four times,
\n000<\/span>but no record)<\/span>
\n
\nNyad completed Lac St. Jean<\/em> three times in five attempts.
\n<\/strong>She finished second among the women in all three. Sandra Bucha beat her by over an hour in \u201974 and over three hours in \u201975.<\/p>\n
\n
Saguenay River in Quebec
\n000<\/span>27 miles
\n000<\/span>(Successfully completed four times,
\n000<\/span>but no record)<\/span>
\n
\nNyad started this race three times and finished once.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
Lake Ontario
\n000<\/span>10 miles in 4 hours, 22 min.
\n000<\/span>(World Record, but since broken)<\/span><\/p>\n
Almost true.<\/strong><\/p>\n
[Additional alternative facts from Diana]<\/em> And, oh my god, it was a cold day. And it was a long day \u2014 37 hours and 38 minutes across Lake Ontario. And I finished third among the men that day, and Judith de Nijs announced her retirement that night.
\n\u2014 \u201cBeachbody 2014 Summit\u201d (Part 1 of 2<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In the Lake Ontario\/Hamilton race of 1970, Nyad finished in 4 hours and 23 minutes, placing tenth overall, and twelve minutes ahead of\u00a0 Judith de Nijs. Nyad went on to use this victory to denigrate the great Dutch athlete and five-time world champion. Nyad caricatured her as someone who \u201c[appeared] to me more of a tight end than a swimmer. . . . Of course, the beach didn\u2019t tremble with each of her heavy strides. It just seemed that way.\u201d (Find a Way<\/em><\/a>, p. 59)<\/p>\n
Nyad later claimed that, after she beat de Nijs at Hamilton, \u201cde Nijs never swam again\u201d (Esquire,<\/em> \u201cMind Over Water<\/a>,\u201d 1 Oct 1975).<\/p>\n
But the next week, de Nijs swam 19 miles in 9:32.20 to win at Lac St-Jean<\/em>. She took off the next season to have a baby, then got back in the water in 1972. She continued to compete until at least 2013 when she won the 70-74 women\u2019s division of the Dutch open-water swimming championships (Open Water Boek 2015<\/em><\/a>, as Judith van Berkel-de Nijs, p. 69).<\/em><\/p>\n
Here are two other things Nyad would rather you not know:<\/p>\n