diff --git a/Lib/test/test_normalization.py b/Lib/test/test_normalization.py
index f92a714..dbe1a11 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_normalization.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_normalization.py
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@
 class NormalizationTest(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_main(self):
         part1_data = {}
+        # Hit the exception early
+        try:
+            open_urlresource(TESTDATAURL, encoding="utf-8")
+        except IOError:
+            self.skipTest("Could not retrieve " + TESTDATAURL)
         for line in open_urlresource(TESTDATAURL, encoding="utf-8"):
             if '#' in line:
                 line = line.split('#')[0]
@@ -95,8 +100,6 @@
 
 
 def test_main():
-    # Hit the exception early
-    open_urlresource(TESTDATAURL)
     run_unittest(NormalizationTest)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":