Diana Nyad Completes 110-Mile Swim from Cuba to Florida

No person had ever swum from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage prior to Monday, but that is no longer the case, as 64-year-old Diana Nyad completed the impressive feat on Labor Day, according to Matt Sloane and Jason Hanna of CNN.com.

Nyad, who had attempted the swim four previous times since 1978, made it to Key West, Fla., just before 2 p.m. ET after swimming for 52 hours, 54 minutes and 18.6 seconds, according to her official Twitter account.

The 110-mile swim didn't always go smoothly, as Nyad dealt with a number of outside forces. According to Sloane and Hanna, the salt from the water caused her lips to swell considerably, which resulted in slurred speech. Also, Nyad had to contend with dangerous jellyfish, which were large contributing factors to her previous failures.

Luckily for Nyad, though, a group of divers that swam in front of her cleared the way. In addition to that, she had trouble keeping down food that came from a support boat nearby. Despite all of those issues, Nyad managed to accomplish a longstanding dream.

As seen in this photo courtesy of Nyad's Twitter account, there were droves of people waiting for her to reach Key West, and they cheered her on the closer she got.  

Nyad even received a congratulatory message from President Barack Obama on Twitter, so it's fair to say that the entire nation is proud of her amazing accomplishment.

According to Sloane and Hanna, Nyad said prior to the swim that this would be her final attempt. She was able to fight through adversity in order to make it all the way this time, so she won't be left wondering what could have been.

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