Quibble with the claim of the first paragraph, "who at the time was the most famous female swimmer this country ever produced."

Maybe I'm wrong, but I remember that time. It was back when I viewed the Olympics with childhood romanticism and watched every event I could. And I don't think I knew who Nyad was, but I knew about Janet Evans and Dara Torres. Maybe I'm not representative of the mainstream U.S., though. I only learned who Nyad was much later, maybe on this forum.

Now I'm far more cynical and am barely aware of the Olympics when they're happening, except for a few events. :(