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Swimming
Episode context
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The Blue Room's Sabra Lane interviews marathon swimmer Joanne Norman on becoming the first Australian woman to complete the Oceans Seven Challenge. What makes Joanne's story truly remarkable is that she was bitten by a Cookiecutter shark on her first attempt at the Molokaʻi channel. She recovered and successfully swam it a year after the attack. What makes her tick, why did she start marathon swimming - and Jo reveals she swims with her eyes closed - all of the time.
Features:
Joanne Norman, Marathon Swimmer.
Sabra Lane, The Blue Room - theblueroom.au
Joanne Norman on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jo_norman_swims/
Themes:
Courage, open water swimming, marathon swimming, Oceans Seven Challenge, inspiration, inspiring swims, surviving a shark attack, cookiecutter shark, English Channel, Catalina Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, North Channel, Kaiwi Channel, Cook Strait, Tsugaru Strait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi. Film, "Don't be Prey", Mark Sowerby, Rob Woodhouse.
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Swimmer and artist Catherine Stringer
Listen guide
"Bitten not beaten: Joanne Norman on being the first Australian Woman to achieve the Oceans 7" is an episode of The Blue Room. Runtime 35 min. Published July 31, 2026. Hit play above to stream it here, or open the free Spot Sports app for background play and offline downloads.