Diana Nyad, 64, makes history as first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without shark cage

Rainbow flags flying in the wind and cheers on the beach as openly lesbian Diana Nyad made history as the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a protective shark cage.

From Advocate:

Nyad, 64, walked onto Smather's Beach on her own, completing the 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida that she had tried to make four times before. She broke the first record early Monday morning for having gone further than anyone else. When the crowd quieted its cheering, she told them, "We should never ever give up."

The swimmer's team reports that she completed the trip in 52 hours, 54 minutes and 18.6 seconds. She used no protective shark cage. Nyad first tried back in 1978, but enormous waves forced her to quit after 42 hours. When she tried in 2011, Nyad said she "hadn’t swum a stroke for 31 years." In 2012 she made it 41 miles before hypothermia, storms, and jellyfish stings forced her to abandon the effort. Still, she set out for one last try, leaving from Cuba on Saturday morning for the fifth time.

"I've got three messages," Nyad said of her accomplishment in a short speech on the shore, according to video from CNN. "One is, we should never ever give up. Two is, you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport but it's a team."