The Outcry To Protect Young Athletes
When it came my turn to address the crowd at the 5th IOC Women in Sport World Conference over the last few days here in Los Angeles, I spoke aloud, boldly, of the repeated sexual molestation I endured at the hands of my coach when I was a teenager. At one point, I took a long pause and raised my voice to say “I’m sick of it, young athletes victims of heinous sexual crimes by the very coaches whose job it is to protect and mentor!! And you know who else is sick of it? Katherine Starr, where are you?” At that point, tall, broad-shouldered, 44-year-old, former world-class...
Read MoreThe 5th World Conference on Women and Sport
The 5th World Conference on Women and Sport took place in Los Angeles over the past few days. Dignitaries from the International Olympic Committee, the London Olympic Games, and sports organizing bodies from all over the world were here, with the focus on women athletes and their issues on today’s world stage. I was asked to give the final keynote of the conference, in conjunction with actress Geena Davis, who has not only been an advocate for women athletes for many years now but who impressively made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Olympic Trials in archery just a few years...
Read MorePublic Speaking
Was up in Palo Alto, CA, couple of days ago for a speech for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and some of the community leaders in that Stanford/Silicon Valley intelligentsia crowd. I’ve been a public speaker for 40 years now. And it always surprises me somewhat that public speaking is evidently listed as one of the top phobias many people have. Even above fear of snakes and spiders and heights, millions of people dread getting up even in front of small group and talking. At 6th grade graduation, Jimmy Woodruff was our class speaker. I was sitting around in my little lace skirt, minding my...
Read MoreKCRW’s Unfictional
KCRW’s UnFictional ‘s latest episode features yours truly…Please give it a listen if you have the time. The Womb: In this episode, stories of the ocean; what it does to us and how it changes us. Long distance swimmer Diana Nyad talks about the experience of swimming non-stop for days at a time. Not only is her body punished by the hours of swimming, her mind is is profoundly affected by long periods of sensory depravation. Her mind free associates and hallucinates. She sings the same song thousands of...
Read MoreXtreme Dream 2012: Jellyfish Armor
The Xtreme Dream is very much alive! Come summer 2012 I will finally walk up on that Florida shore after swimming all those long miles from Cuba. I’m all ready, my body, shoulders, muscles and my mind are all prepared for the 60 to 70 hours to make it across. My world-class team of experts are ready for the challenge. The only missing piece to this Xtreme Dream is finding protection from the deadly jellyfish out there. There are swimsuit makers working hard on solving this problem. Here’s a few suits that might do the job. The jellyfish are a conundrum we have not yet solved, but...
Read More
Diana's Tweets
- RT @teresafritschi: FREE! Ltd time. http://t.co/FTdm1wpl ebook #happiness #gratitude #swimming #baseball #chocolate #intention #mindfulness
- @teresafritschi Thanks for sharing! I'll be sure to download. But I will be honest, I won't have time to read until after the swim.
- @starducks24 I'm feeling great and training is really going well. Still need more training but I'm definitely ready.
- @brilliantbodies Looking forward to the story!
- Unfortunately not every battle we fight is won. May the tunes of Donna Summer live on past her too short life. http://t.co/3xDyTxFg
Recent Comments