@hankg Many articles online note her prior behaviors (which you noted) and the abuse allegation along with the certification issue. Why? Because it sells whether true or not. I have no reason to not believe her in any of the points. Even if she said something inappropriate about the guy that did the swim, it was her opinion and the context is unknown to anyone but her. I agree the story itself is quite inspirational and it was a great movie.
@shelenn Her embellishments are beyond that. For example she stated many times she was the first woman to swim around the island of Manhattan. She was not. Worse, in writings of hers back to the mid-1970s she wrote about those who did it before. So it wasn’t she wasn’t aware of it, corrected herself, and never spoke of it again.
At the very end of the movie there is a very touching scene where the real life Bonnie and Diane at some post-swim event. In it Bonnie kind of rubs her about her propensity for embellishment.
Why do some people who accomplish such amazing things feel the need to pump the PR to 11 to the point of bending facts or making things up? I don’t know. It appears she is one of them though.
I still think her accomplishments are amazing and noteworthy. So I’m not going to take that away from her.
@hankg It is my understanding the sport had no certification at the time of the swim. It was not until 5 years after that she requested certification from WOWSA, which didnt exist at the time of her swim. It was denied due to lack of documentation, of which there were no requirements at the time of her swim. It was a bogus reason IMO.
@shelenn From what I've been reading it is a lot more complicated than that. There were established rules for open water swims going back to early-20th century English Channels swims which described what "unassisted" meant. It was a big part of the "no touching" thing they made a big deal out of in the movie. But there are photos of her crew touching her during her swim. That also included the gear she was wearing as well to avoid the jellyfish stings. The History vs. Hollywood had a brief write up and a link to a sit heavily critical of Nyad for some of her prior behaviors including lying about her records/professional history repeatedly, and some slanderous statements against Walter Poenisch who completed the swim in 1978. He had his own problems with not registering his protocol, having observers, etc. as well. She knew what scrutiny these attempts have. It is somewhere between odd and a shame she didn't do the steps necessary to make sure it would pass documentation requirements. This isn't my sport so whether by definition of the people who care about it it is unassisted it might as well be as far as I'm concerned. Whether a teammate put vaseline on her skin or she wore a wet suit is besides the point for me in terms of the herculean effort. historyvshollywood.com/reelfac…
@hankg I can't go by pictures... too easy to fake them. I also can't go by people claiming she lied about being abused... too many women and girls are not believed until enough of them stand together. Without authenticated pictures and testimony under oath of many to the contrary, I believe her. I also can find a number of articles that dispute the claims in the one you posted. C'est la vie
@shelenn I didn’t bring up her abuse allegations. I take them at face value and others have come forward alleging the same treatment by the coach. That has nothing to do with the rest of the discussion though.
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