{"id":791,"date":"2020-01-17T23:19:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T23:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2020\/01\/17\/how-a-hacker-made-diana-nyad-the-best-marathon-swimmer-of-the-1970s\/"},"modified":"2025-02-23T16:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T16:20:07","slug":"how-a-hacker-made-diana-nyad-the-best-marathon-swimmer-of-the-1970s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/how-a-hacker-made-diana-nyad-the-best-marathon-swimmer-of-the-1970s\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Hacker Made Diana Nyad the Best Marathon Swimmer of the 1970s"},"content":{"rendered":"

I became, in the 1970s, the best ocean swimmer in the world. I held every major record on planet earth, out in the open sea.
\n\u2014Diana Nyad, 7 Oct 2019<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While compiling a list of the real<\/em> best ocean swimmers of the decade<\/a>, I headed over to Openwaterpedia <\/a>\u2014 \u201cthe Wikipedia for the open water swimming world\u201d \u2014 looking for more data about listees. I began with Lynne Cox and Tina Bischoff. Cox set English Channel records in 1972 and \u201973, Bischoff in \u201976. But something was off with their Openwaterpedia entries: they showed Cox and Bischoff swimming the English Channel in the sixties. As a matter of fact, their entries showed neither of them completing a single swim in the 1970s.
\n<\/p>\n

I assumed this was an isolated problem and an easy fix. Just in case, though, I visited Sandra Bucha\u2019s page. Bucha dominated pro swimming between 1973 and 1975. She won every race she entered, beating Diana Nyad by at least thirty minutes whenever they went head-to-head.<\/p>\n

According to the list under \u201cProfessional Marathon Swimming Career,\u201d Sandra Bucha hadn\u2019t completed a single race in the 1970s:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Details from Sandra Bucha\u2019s Openwaterpedia page from before and just after the hacker struck. Note that Bucha would have been nine years old during the 1964 pro season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So I visited the entries for all of the best swimmers of the decade. With only two exceptions, Openwaterpedia showed none of them completing a single \u201970s swim.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I learned that<\/p>\n