Good on you, Diana Nyad.
The 61 year old American is swimming from Cuba to Florida. More than three decades ago, as a 28 year old endurance swimmer, Diana Nyad tried unsuccessfully to complete this 103 miles, shark-infested course. Her failure at that time, has been gnawing at her. With a 45 man support team, Nyad is taking the plunge once more. She says she hopes the swim improves US-Cuban relations - and fills a gaping hole in her resume.
Last Friday, as Nyad psyched herself for her historic swim, a 51 year old athlete was also making waves across the pond. Merlene Ottey - formerly of Jamaica, now running for Slovenia - took to the track at the Crystal Palace diamond athletics meet in London. Ottey was not there to be honoured for services to her sport, having won more medals in track and field than any other competitor in history. Neither was she there as a celebrity presence, as was her contemporary Edwin Moses, the Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles of 1976 and 1984.
Instead, Ottey was competing as an elite athlete on the anchor leg of a women's sprint relay team: in search of an elusive qualifying time for this month's World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Viciously dubbed the "bronze queen" for never winning an Olympic gold medal, Ottey delivered a cracking run to close the gap in a last place finish for her team. She was graceful in a post-race interview. As she jogged off track, the crowd cheered warmly. Her sinewy form was indistinguishable from the other athletes half her age.
Not everyone applauds Diana Nyad or Merlene Ottey. The water cooler humour about them can be ageist, misogynistic or lots of both. Mostly, people just struggle to understand their motives. What would possess a sexagenarian to embark a three day swimming course with no sleep and only liquid food at 90 minute intervals; or, where she would need to be protected as she swam, by an electronic shark repellent?
In fairness, most people simply have an imagination deficit on Nyad's Cuba-to-Florida swim. An hour long swim is hard enough to fathom, let alone a three day super- marathon. In fact, one can say that generally, it is always difficult to make sense of new, break-out challenges - the "extreme dream," as Nyad herself puts it. There was much anxiety when women tried to become professional athletes; and later, when they demanded to compete in "rough" sports like soccer and boxing.
And then too, there are also the concerns about unrealised ambition. Is this just a case of self-centred athletes who don't know that its time to quit? When does the admirable reach for sporting goals end and pathetic stage-hogging begin? Ottey has scorched any idea that she is still after an elusive Olympic gold medal. She runs, she says, simply because she enjoys it and wants to see how fast she can go. And as she is having fun, why should she not continue? Of course, like most elite competitors, Ottey also may be seduced by the lure of the history books - for being the oldest woman still doing the sprints.
Nyad speaks about the challenges of endurance swimming in almost spiritual terms. In her autobiography, she talks about battles with the sea and imagines victory as the moment when she "touch [es]" the other shore." But mainly, the triumph of Nyad is in how she shatters ideas of what a woman - or any human being, for that matter- can take on at 61. As she said: "I'd like to prove to the other 60-year-olds that it is never too late to start your dreams." Or, I would add, to do what the hell you want to do. Nyad and Ottey are great role models for both young and old, or those figuring out which of the two they are.
Diana Nyad failed to complete the history making swim from Havana to Florida. The veteran was done in by shoulder pain, an asthma attack and unpredictably monstrous ocean waves. She was disappointed. Perhaps, she surmised, completing this course may never be something that she achieves in her lifetime. But, she noted to her fans :
"It's more inspiring to watch somebody struggle and not give up than have an easy time of it,"