US swimmer Nyad prepares to swim Florida Straits

[joshcryer]

http://news.yahoo.com/us-swimmer-nyad-prepares-swim-florida-straits-173117880.html">US swimmer Nyad prepares to swim Florida Straits
HAVANA (AP) — American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad made final preparations Sunday to dive into the waters off Cuba in a bid to become the first person to swim the Florida Straits without the aid of a shark cage.

Tanned and freckled from long hours training in the open seas of the Caribbean, the 61-year-old Nyad said it has been a lifelong dream and she hopes her feat, if successful, will inspire people to live vigorously during their golden years.

"I also want it to be a moment for thousands, and I dare say millions of people my age, who are going to look and say, '60!'" Nyad said at a news conference. "The joke is 60 is the new 40, and it's true. We are a younger generation than the 60 that went before us."

She called the attempt a "symbolic moment" for increasing understanding between the United States and Cuba, two nations torn by five decades of animosity and mistrust.

I hope this becomes a modern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust">Mathias Rust moment.