KEY WEST, Fla. — The currents in the Florida Straits finally proved stronger than the determination that had pushed Diana Nyad across vast stretches of open water before. Nyad, 61, stroked through shoulder pain and floated on her back when asthma made it difficult for her to breathe on the attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West that began Sunday.

She said she pictured herself emerging from the water onto the beach and vowed to doggy-paddle there, if that was what it took. She swam right through a smack of stinging jellyfish. But by early Tuesday, trembling in the water, the record-setting marathon swimmer knew she had to stop, even though it meant giving up on her dream.

According to her Twitter feed, she was pulled from the water after swimming for 29 hours. Nyad said her captain told her she had roughly 53 miles to go when she stopped. The swim had been expected to take about 60 hours to cross 103 miles.

“Sometimes the will is so strong. That’s the whole point of this sport in general, that the mind is stronger than the body,” she said after her support boat docked in Key West.

“I was shaking and freezing and I thought, there’s no mind over matter anymore. I was so depleted from the asthma,” she said, crying in a white bathrobe before cheering supporters.

“It was so hard. I couldn’t even swim. I couldn’t be the swimmer I am,” Nyad said.

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Schwarzenegger’s airport cigar stirs anti-smoking lobby

VIENNA — Was it lit or was it cold? The status of a cigar in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mouth at an Austrian airport could decide whether or not he faces legal action.

Smoking at airports is banned in Austria and an anti-smoking lobby said Tuesday it plans to launch a suit against the former California governor for puffing after arriving in June at Salzburg Airport.

But officials say that Arnie can ignore any requests from authorities in his homeland since the charge is not covered by treaties. An airport spokesman, meanwhile, says the cigar was out.

Anne Hathaway finds getting older liberating

 

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NEW YORK — Anne Hathaway is one Hollywood star who’s wearing her age like a badge of honor.

“I find the passing of time very liberating,” says the actress, who turns 29 in November. “I feel more confident every, well not every single day, but most days I feel better than I did the day before, and that’s a good thing.”

Hathaway hit the red carpet in New York on Monday night, sparkling in a gold and black Alexander McQueen dress, to premiere her latest romantic drama, “One Day.” She said she feels a sense of freedom about approaching 30.

“For every generation where traditional rules don’t apply, you don’t have to have things figured out by 22 and have four kids by the time you’re 30,” said Hathaway, who’s single but dating and has no children.

Attack injures Gavin DeGraw

 

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NEW YORK — Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw has been released from a New York City hospital after an attack that left him with a broken nose, a concussion and other injuries.

DeGraw tweeted Tuesday afternoon that he didn’t remember much of Sunday’s beating. Police say DeGraw was attacked by a group of men in the East Village. No arrests have been made yet.

DeGraw canceled concerts this week in upstate New York and Massachusetts after the assault. DeGraw’s new album, “Sweeter,” is due out in September.

 


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