{"id":993,"date":"2020-06-08T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T20:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/2020\/06\/08\/the-olympic-roots-of-diana-nyads-abuse-allegations\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T20:03:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:03:45","slug":"the-olympic-roots-of-diana-nyads-abuse-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/the-olympic-roots-of-diana-nyads-abuse-allegations\/","title":{"rendered":"The Olympic Roots of Diana Nyad\u2019s Abuse Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNyad, you\u2019re going to be the best swimmer in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2014Diana Nyad quoting Jack Nelson, Find A Way<\/em><\/a>, p. 43<\/p>\n

Whether Jack Nelson said exactly those words or not, a young Diana Nyad heard them as a promise. The moment her high school coach made that promise, reaching the Olympics became Nyad\u2019s obsession, her original Xtreme Dream<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most young swimmers have that same fantasy. It becomes a reality for a few, while the rest manage to work through their disappointment and move on.<\/p>\n

Well, most of the rest. When Jack Nelson told Diana Nyad she could be great, an Olympic medal became, in her mind, a foregone conclusion. Over half-a-century later, she still wraps herself in the security blanket of her failure every time she strides out to face an audience.
\n<\/p>\n

Take, for instance, her latest presentation. On May 20, she gave an online program<\/a> for the Australian organization, Business Chicks<\/a>. Here\u2019s a sample:<\/p>\n

[Nelson] said, \u201cNyad, you could be the best swimmer in the world\u2014if you want to work that hard.\u201d I did.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Diana tells her step-father] One day dad, I\u2019m gonna stand on the podium at the Olympic Games and bow my head for a medal for the United States of America.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Nelson tells Diana] I was going to be able to do anything I wanted in this life.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

<\u00b0))\u0302)\u0316)><\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0><((\u0317(\u0302(\u00b0><\/p>\n

In the excerpts below, Nyad and various journalists address her quest to reach the Olympics. Much of what Diana says\u2014and most of what she tells the authors\u2014is false. What\u2019s true is how Nyad\u2019s feelings about missing the Olympics mutate from acceptance to regret; regret to resentment; and, finally, resentment to contempt for the man she blames for her failure.<\/p>\n

1964<\/strong> \u2014 A 14-year-old contender<\/em><\/p>\n

Diana Nyad, who may qualify for the Olympic Trials in both the 100 and 200-meter backstroke events\u2026.
\n(\u201cLocals Seek Swim Berths<\/a>,\u201d Fort Lauderdale News<\/em>, 16 Jul 1964)<\/p>\n

1971<\/strong> \u2014 Never good enough<\/em><\/p>\n

000<\/span>Miss Nyad is driven by the desire to be No. 1. She was frustrated as a backstroker because she was never quite good enough to make the Olympic team.
\n000<\/span>\u201cIt didn\u2019t matter how much I worked at it \u2014 there was always somebody stronger and faster who could beat me.<\/strong>\u201d
\n(\u201cGoddess of Water<\/a>,\u201d Ft. Lauderdale News<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1971<\/strong> \u2014 She\u2019d give it all for gold<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t come close to my potential in marathon swimming yet, but I\u2019d trade all of what I\u2019m going to be for an Olympic gold medal<\/strong>. I just wasn\u2019t fast enough, though.\u201d It seems a strange admission, but it is honest, devoid of regret.
\n(\u201cShe Takes A Long Swim Off A Short Pier<\/a>,\u201d Sports Illustrated<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1974<\/strong> \u2014 Nelson becomes \u201cthey\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t make the 1968 Olympic team and I resented it<\/strong> because I worked so diligently for so many years. I became a fanatic about it. When I got on the \u2018block\u2019 for 1968, for the Olympic trial, I knew I was going to make it because that\u2019s the coaching philosophy, \u2018where there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way.\u2019 They trained you and they psyched you up. By the time you\u2019re isolated on the platform, if you don\u2019t believe 100 percent, that you\u2019re going to win, then you won\u2019t. I became a recluse for almost eight months after I lost. It was a psychological shock for me. I came in fifth. I was only 600ths of a second behind third place. I was a poor sport. I packed my bag and took off for India for a month.\u201d
\n(\u201cIn the Swim with Diana Nyad<\/a>,\u201d Military Life<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1975 <\/strong>\u2014 Nelson disappears<\/em><\/p>\n

000<\/span>Ask Diana who in Fort Lauderdale helped actively launch her career and she names no one except Dawson.<\/strong> But mainly she believes she got herself to the top through sheer determination.
\n000<\/span>\u201cBuck Dawson was my first trainer actually, when things weren\u2019t going so well back in my youth,\u201d she said. \u201cHe came to me in the spring of 1970 and said, \u2018You\u2019re unhappy with your swimming career because you didn\u2019t make the Olympic team.<\/strong> Why don\u2019t you come up to Ak-o-mac and train?’\u201d
\n(\u201cDiana\u2019s Big Splash In The Big Apple<\/a>,\u201d Ft. Lauderdale News<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1976<\/strong> \u2014 A tragic case<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1968 observers thought that Nyad was certain to make the Olympic team. \u201cI was considered a \u2018sure thing.\u2019 The media considered it a tragic case when I didn\u2019t make it.<\/strong> An attack of heart disease in the summer of 1967 slowed me down. I just wasn\u2019t swimming fast enough to make the team. I was so disappointed, I stopped swimming.
\n(Barnard Bulletin<\/a>; complete issue here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

1976<\/strong> \u2014 A more tragic case\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

ooo<\/span>Diana says she had a friend who missed qualifying in \u201968 by 6\/100ths of a second and committed suicide.
\n000<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s ingrained in you that the only reason you\u2019ve been training since nine or ten is to be the best. To win those national championships or that Olympic gold medal.\u201d<\/strong>
\n(\u201cMarathon Woman,\u201d p. 4<\/a>, Miami Herald.<\/em> See also pages 1<\/a>,\u00a02<\/a>,\u00a03<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[Note: There\u2019s no evidence that Diana\u2019s troubled friend existed. I\u2019m going with projection.]<\/em><\/p>\n

1977<\/strong> \u2014 Cheated<\/em><\/p>\n

[S]he missed the Olympics by 1\/1600th of a second and still remembers. \u201cIt was eight years out of my life,\u201d she says. She quit swimming for a while. \u201cI felt cheated,\u201d she says.<\/strong>
\n(\u201cAll She Hears is Water, All She Hears is Fog,<\/a>\u201d Detroit Free Press<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1978 <\/strong>\u2014 The Olympics reimagined<\/em><\/p>\n

ooo<\/span>\u201c\u2018This is my Olympics,\u2019 she says matter-of-factly<\/strong>\u2026. \u2018The Cuban swim is the greatest endurance feat in human history. But if anyone can do it, I can. After the Cuba swim, that\u2019s it. I\u2019ll never do another long-distance swim.’\u201d
\n(\u201cMarathon woman with 3 bathing suits<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1981<\/strong> \u2014 Nelson becomes \u201cthe worst\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By the time she was 12, she was practicing six hours a day, and her coach had noted she was developing a swimmer\u2019s physique and a swimmer\u2019s desire. He was \u201cbrilliant as far as the techniques and psyching up for swimming a race. But as far as overall human growth, he was \u2014 ahh, he was the worst.<\/strong> And a lot of people say this about him. He\u2019s an extremely emotional, charismatic guy and would grab you before every workout \u2014 this was eight years for me \u2014 and he would get tears in his eyes. And he would say, \u2018We\u2019re going to do it, baby’\u201d \u2014 her voice toughens \u2014 \u201c\u2018We\u2019re going to be on that Olympic stand together, baby. You\u2019re going to do it for me, baby.\u2019 A child can\u2019t be expected to respond to this kind of emotion and pressure.\u201d<\/strong>
\n(Journal Herald<\/em><\/a>, Dayton Ohio)<\/p>\n

1981<\/strong> \u2014 On why she swam from Bimini to Florida<\/em><\/p>\n

000<\/span>\u201c\u2018Why\u2019d I do it? I don\u2019t know why, exactly; I suppose there are a number [of] factors. A lot of people say I did it as a response to not making the [1968] Olympic team, and there may be some truth to that.’\u201d<\/strong>
\n(\u201cDiana doesn\u2019t want to waste time sleeping<\/a>,\u201d The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1981<\/strong> \u2014 Still a painful subject<\/em><\/p>\n

000<\/span>\u201cI had the desire to be a world-class swimmer,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd my coach thought I had the ability. But I didn\u2019t make it to Mexico City (for the \u201968 Olympic Games). I didn\u2019t get where I wanted to go.\u201d
\n000<\/span>Her dream was interrupted by a bout with viral endocarditis, a heart disease. For four months she was in the hospital; for six more weeks, on her back at home. \u201cI lost a lot of strength and a lot of speed. And I just couldn\u2019t recuperate in time.
\n000<\/span>It\u2019s still a painful subject for her, and she glosses over details. \u201cThe day came (for tryouts) and I didn\u2019t make it.\u201d Period.<\/strong>
\n000<\/span>Her spirits dashed, she enrolled in college\u2026.
\n(\u201cDiana Nyad,\u201d\u00a0Ft. Lauderdale News<\/em>, p. 1<\/a>, p. 2<\/a>)<\/p>\n

1982 <\/strong>\u2014 emotional and physical break-down<\/em><\/p>\n

000<\/span>[Nyad] was so dejected about not making the 1968 Olympic swim team she told a USM Honors Forum audience Tuesday night, that she sought ways to inflict pain on herself\u2026.
\n000<\/span>She failed to make the Olympic team, she said, because she had pushed herself so hard at training that she had an emotional and physical break-down which prevented her making the team.
\n(\u201cNyad: She swam because she hated herself<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Hattiesburgh American<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1983<\/strong> \u2014 doomed hopes<\/em><\/p>\n

000<\/span>IN HER talk Nyad told how she decided at age 10 to become an Olympic swimmer, training six hours a day.
\n000<\/span>When she was 16 she was third at the U.S. Nationals on her way to the Olympics when struck with viral endocarditis, a heart ailment which attacks the vessel\u2019s muscles. Confined to a hospital for four months with more recuperation ahead of her, her Olympic hopes were doomed.
\n(\u201cSwimmer Nyad Flashes Style<\/a>,\u201d The Cincinnati Enquirer)<\/p>\n

1984<\/strong> \u2014 obsessed<\/em><\/p>\n

ooo<\/span>From the time she started swimming at 10, Ms. Nyad was \u201cobsessed\u201d with winning a spot on the U.S. Olympic swimming team\u2026.<\/strong>
\nooo<\/span>After a third-place national finish in the 100-meter backstroke in 1966, Ms. Nyad contracted a heart disease. Her prolonged recovery kept her out of the win column in 1967, and in 1968 she finished sixth in the trials for the Mexico City summer Olympics, erasing her dream.
\n(\u201cMarathon swimmer relates long journey, lifelong quest<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Central New Jersey Home News<\/em>)<\/p>\n

1989<\/strong> \u2014 twenty years on, still\u00a0 fixated on the Olympics<\/em><\/p>\n

ooo<\/span>Nyad wanted to represent the United States in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. And she seemed certain to do just that when in 1966, at the age of 17, she won a national championship.
\nooo<\/span>But a viral infection that hospitalized her for several months left her far behind her competition as the 1968 Olympic trials opened\u2026
\nooo<\/span>Though she finished sixth and missed the Olympics, Nyad knew she had done her best.
\n(Leader-Telegram<\/a><\/em>, Eau Claire, WI)<\/p>\n

. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

By the end of the 1970s, Nyad had convinced herself and the public that she was the greatest marathon swimmer of that decade. The eighties, though, would prove more difficult to spin. In 1981, Diana Nyad\u2019s Basic Training for Women<\/em><\/a> arrived just two months before Jane Fonda\u2019s Workout Book<\/a>. <\/em>The latter spent more than six months atop the New York Times <\/i>bestseller list<\/a> and almost a year and a half in the top five. As far as I can tell, Nyad\u2019s book never cracked the list.<\/p>\n

In 1982, a lawyer for Walter and Faye Poenisch, both of whom had sued Nyad and the International Swimming Hall of Fame for defamation, finally caught up with Diana and deposed her. The following year, Nyad agreed to an out-of-court monetary settlement and a written retraction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1984, Nyad helped cover the Los Angeles Olympics for ABC. \u201cDiana Nyad has been horrendous with post-race interviews,\u201d wrote Leo Zainea<\/a> in the Austin American-Statesman. \u201cShe never seems to know what to ask.\u201d Sports Illustrated\u2019s <\/em>William Taaffe agreed<\/a>: \u201cTry as they might, ABC\u2019s lesser lights, including such 15-watt bulbs as\u2026Diana Nyad, couldn\u2019t sink the show with their biased commentary and shallow interviews.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years later, we find Nyad in San Francisco working for local TV station KPIX. <\/a>This was not quite the venue Nyad envisioned for the woman destined to become\u00a0 \u201cone of the best broadcasters there\u2019s ever been<\/a>.\u201d In 1989, Nyad debuted a talk show, \u201cDays End.\u201d Its critical reception<\/a> rivaled that of her work at the \u201984 Olympics.<\/p>\n

Were Nyad to see Jack Nelson venerated after such a decade, you never know what she might do.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

1993<\/strong> \u2014 Jack Nelson named \u201cMan of the Year\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

ooo<\/span>On Monday, Nelson will be honored as the Man of the Year by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce.
\nooo<\/span>\u201cThey\u2019re starting to realize this man means an awful lot to our community,\u201d said Sam Freas, president of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
\n(\u201cBestowing Praise,<\/a>\u201d Sun-Sentinel<\/em>, 28 Sep 1993)<\/p>\n

Did you know he\u2019ll also be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame any minute?
\n(Sun-Sentinel<\/em><\/a>, 22 Sep 1993)<\/p>\n

1994<\/strong> \u2014 ISHOF inducts Jack Nelson<\/em><\/p>\n

ooo<\/span>Last Saturday, Nelson, 62, was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame\u2026. His list of swimming accolades is a mile long. Nelson still wears a ring signifying his 1954 world record-breaking butterfly. But it\u2019s his coaching that warrants the most attention.
\n(\u201cSince the beginning, Nelson has been a winner<\/a>,\u201d Miami Herald<\/em>, 12 May 1994)<\/p>\n

1997<\/strong> \u2014 First abuse accusation<\/em>\u00b9<\/p>\n

Then at the state meet in 1967\u2014it\u2019s difficult for me to talk about even though it was so long ago\u2014my life changed. I have just begun to talk about it and decided it\u2019s important if you are going to take a look at your life that you have to be honest about it. (\u201cThe Courage to Succeed,\u201d<\/a> 1997)<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. \n
        \n
      1. In \u201cJack and Diana<\/a>,\u201d Ashley Harrell writes that, on a 1989 TV talk show called \u201cPeople Are Talking,\u201d Nyad accused her coach of rape. I can find no examples of other allegations between 1989 and 1997. In the absence of concrete evidence to the contrary, I have to believe Harrell\u2019s \u201c1989\u201d is a transposition error. (Correction: It wasn’t.<\/a> I should never have doubted Ms. Harrell.)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Nyad goes on to allege a single incident of abuse. A year later, she will tell the Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/a> that it happened twice. Nine years later, she\u2019ll say it happened seven times<\/a>. By 2014, when she tells her story<\/a> to the New Yorker\u2019s <\/em>Ariel Levy, the number of occurrences balloons to \u201cthroughout high school\u2026in hotel rooms, at his office, in his car\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

        Finally, in 2017, Nyad gets her big break, an op-ed in the New York Times<\/em><\/a>. Having mounted a platform with international reach and respect, there\u2019s no way she will squander this opportunity. The number of occurrences becomes all but limitless: \u201c\u2026That first savage episode signaled the beginning of years of covert molestation,\u201d she writes. \u201cThese molestations were the cornerstone of my teenage life.\u201d<\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/a>
        Diana Nyad at press conference in Key West, on Sept. 3, 2013, the day after she crossed from Cuba to Florida. From \u201cSwimmer Diana Nyad\u2019s success story inspires aging boomers<\/a>\u201d in the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington (AP Photo\/J Pat Carter).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
        \n

        Update, 28 July 2020: Corrected my erroneous conclusion that Nyad probably made her abuse claims on television for the first time in 1998. See footnote 1 above.<\/em><\/p>\n

        Update, 29 January 2020: Corrected publication timing of Nyad\u2019s workout book vis-a-vis Jane Fonda\u2019s. They came out two months apart, not one.<\/em>

        Diana Nyad’s abuse allegations grow from her failure to achieve her first Xtreme Dream: Winning a gold medal at the Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba-florida"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Olympic Roots of Diana Nyad\u2019s Abuse Allegations - Diana Nyad Fact Check Annex<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nyadfactcheck.com\/annex\/the-olympic-roots-of-diana-nyads-abuse-allegations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Olympic Roots of Diana Nyad\u2019s Abuse Allegations - 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