US swimmer Nyad abandons fourth Cuba-Florida bid

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US distance swimmer Diana Nyad abandoned her fourth attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida on Tuesday after battling lightning storms and swarms of jellyfish for more than two days, according to her crew.

The 62-year-old hit the water on Saturday at the start of the 103-mile (166-kilometer) swim across the Florida Straits, hoping to be the first person to make the journey without a protective shark cage.

But on Tuesday at 7:42 am (1142 GMT) Nyad was pulled from the water, according to her crew.

"Diana is doing as well as someone who just spent 62 hours doing something monumental and extremely dangerous... would feel," Mark Sollinger, the director of operations for the swim, told CNN.

He said her face was swollen from jellyfish stings and that medics were monitoring her and treating her for exhaustion.

The decision to abandon the bid was taken overnight after another lightning storm that Sollinger said made it dangerous for Diana and the shark divers accompanying her to remain in the water.

He estimated that completing the journey would have taken another 20 to 40 hours, after a strong current pulled her off course.

The veteran endurance swimmer had aimed to arrive in the Florida Keys on Tuesday after 60 hours in the water, but was delayed by lightning storms and suffered several jellyfish stings that may have hindered her progress.

Nyad had swum steadily at 50 strokes per minute despite painful jellyfish stings on her lips, forehead, hands and neck, the team said in updates to fans via social media and on her official website, diananyad.com.

She had a specially designed bodysuit to protect her against jellyfish that she wore at night, when the creatures are most active, and the accompanying boats and kayaks used red lights to repel them.

A 50-member crew on five yachts accompanied her on the attempt. Every 90 minutes or so she would paddle up to an escort boat without touching it and refuel with a mixture of nutrients and electrolytes.

Nyad -- who turns 63 on Wednesday -- was on her fourth attempt to cross the waters separating the two countries, which have been at odds for over five decades. Her last was in September 2011.

Her first try was in 1978, when she was 28. Shoulder pain, asthma and ocean swells forced Nyad to cut short another attempt in August 2011.

Nyad set an open sea record for both men and women by swimming from the Bahamas to the Florida Keys in 1979 -- a journey that is the same distance as the Cuba-Florida swim, but a feat she has described as far less dangerous.

And she set a record for circling the island of Manhattan at age 50, clocking in at seven hours and 57 minutes.

In July, British-Australian athlete Penny Palfrey, 49, failed to swim unassisted from Cuba to Florida and had to be plucked from the sea after nearly 42 hours in the water when she could no longer cope with a strong current.