Episodes

  • Trailer
    Jul 27 2023

    In 1971, 12-year-old Lesley Cairns was a South African swimming phenom with big Olympic dreams. But because she was classified as “coloured” by the apartheid regime, you won’t find her swimming scores in the record books. Or anywhere. She crossed a line she didn’t know existed - one that led to a harrowing visit from the secret police. In this four-part series, Lesley and her brother, Patrick Cairns, dive into a family secret that reveals the role that sport played in their country’s liberation movement.

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    1 min
  • Part One: Sink or Swim
    Jul 27 2023

    Lesley and her brother, Patrick, revisit the swimming event that landed her in the crosshairs of the South African security police - the law enforcement branch that brutally cracked down on opponents of apartheid.

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    30 mins
  • Part Two: No Normal Sport
    Jul 27 2023

    Lesley and Patrick set out to understand the forces at play in 1970’s South Africa under apartheid and the lines that Lesley didn’t even know she’d crossed. They examine the role that boycotts played - not only in Lesley’s swimming career, but in the liberation movement.

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    34 mins
  • Part Three: Lost and Found
    Jul 27 2023
    In Canada, Lesley is finally free to pursue her Olympic dreams unencumbered by apartheid, but something unexpected stops her. Back home, her fellow swimmers face what they’ve lost under the regime. Even as the South African government cracks down on all dissent, the sports wing of the anti-apartheid movement gains steam and offers hope.
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    29 mins
  • Part Four: Black Joy in the Water
    Jul 27 2023
    It’s been 30 years since apartheid fell, but elite swimming in South Africa remains the realm of the white and rich, while the majority Black population faces drownings and water shortages. From the beaches to the pools, Patrick and Lesley explore how inequality and the legacy of apartheid has kept so many Black South Africans from the water, and they meet the Black swimmers (and a mermaid!) working to change this today.
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    28 mins