A Paralympic gold medalist has become the first blind woman to swim across the English Channel, and she finished under time.
She said that being blind has left her feeling “isolated,” but thanks to swimming, she has a “newfound confidence” and hopes her feat “inspires others”.
49-year-old Melanie Barratt took on the challenge after falling in love with open-water swimming.
She swam the Channel, from Shakespeare Beach in Dover to Cap Gris Nez Beach in France, in 12 hours and 20 minutes, faster than the expected 14 hours, and described it as “a dream come true.”
“My life has been filled with challenges because of my blindness, and it often led me to feel isolated and unsure of myself,” said Barratt.
Melanie, now a special needs assistant after winning two gold medals, two silvers, and a bronze at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Paralympics, said she “never thought it would be possible to achieve something like this.”
It’s no mean feat, even for an Olympian, as the Channel weather regularly takes the lives of sailors and refugees in crossing.
Melanie was born with scarred eyes after her mom contracted congenital toxoplasmosis during pregnancy. She grew up virtually blind and was only able to make out bright colors and shapes. She first began swimming with the British Blind Sport charity.
“I loved the water,” she remembers. “The charity helped me by teaching me to swim straight and how not to bump my head into the pool ends.”
“I struggled to fit in at school because of my blindness, so I often turned to the pool as an escape.”
Slowly improving, a swimming partner invited her to the Paralympic games, which lit a fire underneath her that pushed her to succeed. After Sydney, Melanie retired from competitive swimming and wanted “something more.”
“Sadly, my guide dog doesn’t swim,” she said, according to English news media outlet SWNS. “But I became friends with an incredible open-water swimmer who took me under her wing.”
“The shock of the cold water made me aware of every single cell of my body, and it was freeing.”
Once hooked on open-water swimming, Melanie competed in several races, including a 10k lake swim, the Thames Marathon, and a relay race in Lake Geneva in July 2023.
It was as freeing as it was frightening, since there were no indicative surfaces or objects for her to use as a reference point. A solution presented itself as her husband paddling alongside her in a kayak, the bright colored paint of which she could see.
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“I also started using bone-conducting headphones that allowed him to communicate with me throughout my swims,” she says. “It made open-water swimming more accessible.”
Two years before her Geneva feat, Melanie signed up for the English Channel swim, describing it as “the Everest of swimming,” and on August 28th, 2024, she swam the Channel in 12 hours and 20 minutes, receiving a Guinness World Record for the feat two months later.
“Halfway through the swim, I felt scared and sick. I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she said. “But I had the most amazing team and I was really determined.”
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“Life is incredibly difficult being blind, and it’s very limiting, but sport and open-water swimming have given me a newfound confidence and made me proud of who I am.”
“My husband and two boys always know I love to push myself and that I always need something to work towards, and I hope I’ve inspired others to do the same.”
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