Diana Nyad

When the distance swimmer turned 60, she vowed to complete her life's biggest challenge: a 110-mile swim from Havana to Key West. It was her fifth attempt at the feat — and, ultimately, a triumph.

America's Cup yachts can gracefully skim above water at better than 40 mph, but Frank Deford says when he looks back at the seven seas in 2013 he'll remember 64-year-old Nyad "plowing, all by herself, freestyle, through 100 miles of surf from Havana to Key West."

Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage. This was Nyad's fifth attempt and it took her 53 hours. Host Michel Martin spoke with her three years ago, about not giving up.

U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad arrived this afternoon in Key West, where a crowd had gathered on the beach to see her achieve what Nyad called a "lifelong dream."

Diana Nyad is an athlete obsessed, but what's so unusual about that? Athletes are supposed to be obsessed. But to say Diana Nyad is a woman obsessed, now…