Havana , Cuba ( CNN ) -- Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad 's latest attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida ended Tuesday morning after severe jellyfish stings and a lightning storm put her off course , her team said . She had been in the water for 60 hours and was about halfway through her swim from Cuba to Florida . Nyad was stung by jellyfish overnight , and a major lightning storm put anyone in the water in extreme danger , said Mark Sollinger , Nyad 's operations chief . He said the 62-year-old exhausted swimmer was pulled out as the dangers mounted . `` With all the threats continuing , Diana decided that it was not a risk that we wanted to take , '' Sollinger said . Nyad 's lips and face are swollen , but she is holding up `` as well as someone who just spent 63 hours '' performing a `` monumental and extremely dangerous '' feat , Sollinger told CNN 's `` Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien . '' Sollinger described her achievement as `` huge , '' despite having to stop before she reached Florida . `` It 's a cross between being down , being so tired because everyone wanted this so much , and a huge sense of accomplishment , '' he said . `` Nobody in the world would even attempt this , but we did . '' Nyad was making her fourth attempt to swim across the Straits of Florida . The full distance from Havana , Cuba , to Key West , Florida , is 103 miles . On Saturday night , her first night in the water , Nyad was stung by jellyfish on her lips , forehead , hands and neck , her blog said . The next night , a sudden squall blew her off course . `` There is lots of lightning out there and the storm is blowing right on top of Diana , '' a blog post stated early Monday , adding that the swimmer was safe and `` feeling strong . '' But Nyad and her crew were treated to a grand display of dolphins Monday evening . Girl , 14 , crosses Lake Ontario . Nyad 's first attempt to cross the Straits of Florida was in 1978 , when rough seas left her battered , delirious and less than halfway toward her goal . She tried again twice last year , but her efforts ended after an 11-hour asthma attack and jellyfish stings . Nyad insisted Friday she was ready to try it again . `` I 'm feeling tremendous inner pressure that this has got to be it , this has got to be the last time , '' she said . Nyad was swimming without a shark cage , relying on electronic shark repellent and a team of divers to keep the predators away . In the 1970s , she won multiple swimming marathons and was one of the first women to swim around the island of Manhattan . She holds the world 's record for longest ocean swim -- 102.5 miles from Bimini in the Bahamas to Jupiter , Florida . Nyad said she was 8 years old when she first dreamed about swimming across the Straits of Florida . At the time , she was in Cuba on a trip from her home in Florida in the 1950s , before Fidel Castro led a Communist takeover in Cuba and the country 's relations with the United States soured . `` I used to stand on the beach and I said to my mother , ' I wonder if anybody could swim over there , ' '' Nyad recalled saying while pointing to the Keys . In her 60s , she says , she still feels `` vital ( and ) powerful '' -- and definitely `` not old . '' A successful swim ideally will inspire people her age and older not to let their age hinder them , Nyad said . `` When I walk up on that shore in Florida , I want millions of those AARP sisters and brothers to look at me and say , ' I 'm going to go write that novel I thought it was too late to do . I 'm going to go work in Africa on that farm that those people need help at . I 'm going to adopt a child . It 's not too late , I can still live my dreams , ' `` she had said . From the archives : Nyad will not attempt crossing again . From the archives : Jellyfish , currents cut short Cuba-to-Florida swim . From the archives : Nyad stung again in swim attempt , team says . CNN 's Matt Sloane contributed to this report .
She had had a ` ` monumental and extremely dangerous '' swim . She was about halfway through her swim when she exited the water . ` ` Nobody in the world would even attempt this , but we did . That 's huge , '' her team says . She had been blown off course by a storm , the team says .