Behind the True Story of Annette Bening’s Netflix Movie “Nyad”: All About Marathon Swimmer Diana Nyad

‘Nyad,’ starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, is based on the extraordinary true story of a historic Cuba-to-Florida swim

A decade ago, Diana Nyad completed a historic feat, solidifying her reputation as one of the world’s most accomplished marathon swimmers.

The new Netflix movie Nyad, starring Annette Bening in the title role, recreates the real-life story of the swimmer’s obsession, upon turning 60, with the “Mount Everest” of ocean swims: the 110-mile trek from Cuba to Key West, Florida.

Nyad, now 74, has written four books including the 2016 memoir Find a Way, which detailed the philosophies and experiences behind her single-minded determination to come out of swimming retirement and finish what she started years before — at what most assumed was the peak of her athletic career. “I failed and faltered many times, but I can look back without regret because I was never burdened with the paralysis of fear and inaction,” she wrote.

Adapted by screenwriter Julia Cox from Nyad’s memoir, directed by Free Solo Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, and costarring Jodie Foster, Nyad is in theaters and available to stream on Netflix. Read on for the extraordinary true story of the woman who inspired it.

Who is Diana Nyad?

Nyad was born in New York City but moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida soon after her mother’s second husband adopted her. Her swimming career, she told The New Yorker, began under former Olympian Jack Nelson, who coached her as a teenager all the way to becoming a Florida state champion in backstroke events.

After graduating from Illinois’ Lake Forest College with a degree in English and French, Nyad enrolled in a Comparative Literature PhD program at New York University in 1973. Throughout the 1970s, her marathon swimming career flourished, gaining her national attention including appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She then transitioned to a career in sports journalism, with her work appearing in print publications, morning news shows and public radio.

An out lesbian, Nyad now resides in Los Angeles. After initially sharing her opinion that trans women athletes should be celebrated but not compete with cisgender women in elite sports, Nyad told Out in October that she stands “firmly on the side of inclusion… We are all sisters and siblings under the blue sky, and we should all have equal opportunities to play the sports we choose, the sports we love.”

Related: Lesbian Visibility Day: Celebrating Stars' Coming Out Stories

What notable marathon swims did she complete?

Nyad gained widespread fame for completing a swim around the island of Manhattan in 1975 on her second try. Her time of 7 hours 57 minutes broke a 50-year-old record and was the first attempt in many years.

Per The New Yorker, she also set a women’s world record for the 22-mile route from Capri to Naples, Italy and became the first person to swim Lake Ontario in the north-to-south direction.

In 1979, she completed the 102-mile trek from the Bahaman island of Bimini to Florida in just over 27 hours, setting another world record. Finishing that feat on her 30th birthday, Nyad resolved it would be her last competitive swim ever.

The year prior, Nyad had made her first attempt of the Cuba-to-Florida swim, within a steel cage protecting her from sharks and other sea creatures. She totaled 76 miles of swimming and reached almost 42 hours, but veered off course into the Gulf of Mexico, failing to finish.

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What is the history of the Cuba-to-Florida swim and how many times did Nyad attempt it?

Of the 110 miles from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida, Nyad told NPR in 2015, "You can't find a stretch of ocean more rife with Mother Nature on steroids — for a swimmer — as you can across the Straits of Florida.”

The trek had first been attempted by long-distance swimmer Walter Poenisch, a Guinness World Record holder at the time for longest ocean swim: 125 miles in the Florida Straits. In July 1978, two days before Nyad tried her first Cuba-Florida swim, the then-65-year-old Poenisch became the first person to complete it.

Notably, both Poenisch and Susie Maroney, who became the first woman to finish the notorious swim in 1997, used a protective cage that surrounded them in the gulf’s shark-infested waters. Poenisch also followed The International Federation of Ocean Swimmers and Divers rules that dictated he was allowed fins and short rests on an accompanying craft, but did not file for recognition of the unprecedented swim. Doubts about his unverified swim led to Poenisch suing several parties including the International Swimming Hall of Fame and Nyad. He won an out-of-court settlement and an apology from Nyad who retracted her comments — including that he was “a cheat” and his swim was “not legal.”

After 30 years of no swimming, Nyad began training at age 60 with the goal of finishing what she started. With the help of a crew of doctors, scientists and Gulf of Mexico navigators, she attempted the Cuba-to-Florida swim twice in 2011, first making it 29 hours and then 41 hours. Nyad was blown off course and contented with shoulder pain, asthma and stings from jellyfish and Portuguese man-of-war. On her fourth attempt the following year, she completed the most distance yet and at 42 hours.

Related: Diana Nyad Forced to End 103-Mile Swim

It was on her fifth attempt, on Sept. 2, 2013, that Nyad completed the Cuba-to-Florida swim amid favorable weather and currents. Standing with her supporters on Key West’s Smathers Beach after 52 hours and 54 minutes of swimming, she said she had "three messages: one is we should never ever give up; two is you are never too old to chase your dreams; and three is it looks like a solitary sport but it is a team."

Becoming the first person to swim without a protective cage, Nyad used only an electronic shark repellent device, as well as a mask, gloves, booties and a full bodysuit to protect from lethal stings.

Was she the victim of sexual assault?

In 2017, Nyad penned an op-ed for The New York Times detailing the sexual assaults she endured as a teenager from Nelson, her swim coach. It was not the first time she had shared the allegations; in the essay, Nyad recalled how she confided in a teammate who turned out to have the same experience. They came forward with their accusations in 1971 and Nelson was fired from Pine Crest School.

“Many times in my life I tried to go up against this deviant, this criminal who assaulted me and left me with shame, left me with humiliation, left me with rage,” she told PEOPLE in 2017.

Nyad has also revealed how her reaction to Nelson’s assaults fueled her determination as an athlete. "All that ocean-swimming I did back in the '70s was just filled with anger," she told Out. "And sometimes anger is very powerful.”

Who is Bonnie Stoll?

Bonnie Stoll, 71, is Nyad’s longtime friend and, in the lead-up to the swimmer’s later attempts to complete the Cuba-Florida trek, coach and handler. On all four of Nyad’s swims, she led the 40-person team stationed on the escort boat, providing the athlete water, food and encouragement.

Per The New Yorker, the two first met in their 30s playing racquetball; they briefly dated before becoming friends.

Together with Nyad, Stoll launched online workout company BravaBody, last active in 2011. The pair went on to form the non-profit Everwalk, promoting healthy exercise.

Ahead of the release of the film Nyad, Stoll told PEOPLE that her pal “can be prickly… Diana definitely had that determination and tunnel vision. People can see the determination and the attitude that she had, absolutely. But she appreciated every one of her teammates.”

Related: Diana Nyad Ready for a 48-Hour Swim Following Her 53-Hour History-Maker

What is Nyad up to now?

In the years following her historic swim and release of her memoir, Nyad has given motivational speeches and appeared on talk shows to share her experience. In 2014, she competed on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars.

Her 2013 TED Talk, titled “Never, ever give up,” has been viewed millions of times. In 2019, she performed a solo show, The Courage to Fail, off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theater.

This September, Nyad commemorated the 10-year anniversary of her historic swim on her website, writing, “My legacy isn’t so much a mark in the record books. What I hope has bled through to a large population is hope. Hope to believe they can reach any other shore they pursue.”

Related: Annette Bening Opens Up About Her Transgender Son Stephen Ira: 'I'm Very, Very Proud of Him'

The swimmer also met Bening and the filmmakers behind Nyad, who invited her onto the set in the Dominican Republic. The Oscar-nominated actress “showed exemplary endurance,” said Nyad, per press notes from Netflix. “She worked for a year to get ready for this, and it showed. Bonnie and I are both just over the moon that these are the two actresses playing us.”

Nyad, a "remarkable true story of tenacity, friendship and the triumph of the human spirit,” per an official synopsis, costars Rhys Ifans, Ethan Jones Romero, Luke Cosgrove, Jeena Yi and Eric T. Miller. It begins streaming on Netflix Friday.

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