KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The challenges of swimming from Cuba to Florida have once again proven to be too difficult for Diana Nyad (NY'-ad) to overcome.
Today, she ended her fourth attempt in nearly 35 years to swim across the Straits of Florida. Her crew now reports that she was pulled from the water at around 1 a.m., as a thunderstorm raged. She'd endured jellyfish stings, hypothermia and swollen lips.
She's expected to arrive by boat this afternoon in the Florida Keys.
Nyad -- who turns 63 tomorrow -- had said this would be her last attempt to make the swim. She made the same promise, however, to friends and handlers last September after an attempt that was cut short by jellyfish stings.
A crew member tweeted that when Nyad first emerged from the water overnight, she insisted that she would go back in after the storm subsided. But the crew member says Nyad realized by dawn that "the obstacles against this swim were too great."
Her team says Nyad made it farther this time than in her previous attempts. She swam this time for more than 41 hours.
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APPHOTO FLAN102: In this photo provided by Diana Nyad via the Florida Keys News Bureau, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad rests after she was pulled out of the water between Cuba and the Florida Keys early Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. Nyad has ended her fourth bid to swim from Cuba to Florida after four days of storms, jellyfish stings and shark threats.(AP Photo/Diana Nyad via the Florida Keys News Bureau, Christi Barli) (21 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO FLAN102 (08/21/12)>>
APPHOTO FLAN103: In this photo provided by Diana Nyad via the Florida Keys News Bureau, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad rests after being pulled out of the water between Cuba and the Florida Keys early Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. Nyad has ended her fourth bid to swim from Cuba to Florida after four days of storms, jellyfish stings and shark threats. (AP Photo/Diana Nyad via the Florida Keys News Bureau, Christi Barli) (20 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO FLAN103 (08/20/12)>>
APPHOTO FLAN101: In this photo provided by Diana Nyad via the Florida Keys News Bureau, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad is aided after she was pulled out of the water between Cuba and the Florida Keys early Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. Nyad has ended her fourth bid to swim from Cuba to Florida after four days of storms, jellyfish stings and shark threats. (AP Photo/Diana Nyad via the Florida Keys News Bureau, Christi Barli) (21 Aug 2012)
<<APPHOTO FLAN101 (08/21/12)>>
