Why is else clause needed for try statement in python?

In Python the try statement supports an else clause, which executes if the code in try block does not raise an exception. For example:

try:
  f = open('foo', 'r')
except IOError as e:
  error_log.write('Unable to open foo : %s\n' % e)
else:
  data = f.read()
  f.close()

Why is the else clause needed? Can't we write the above code as follows :

try:
  f = open('foo', 'r')
  data = f.read()
  f.close()
except IOError as e:
  error_log.write('Unable to open foo : %s\n' % e)

Won't the execution proceed to data = f.read() if open does not raise an exception?