The Lost Olympians

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The Lost Olympians

By: Lesley Cairns-Falk, Patrick Cairns, Matt Fabbri
Narrated by: Patrick Cairns, Lesley Cairns-Falk
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About this listen

Introduction by Executive Producer Jessica Biel

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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Episodes
  • Trailer

    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
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Part One: Sink or Swim

    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
    Free with 30-day trial
  • Part Two: No Normal Sport

    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
    Free with 30-day trial
About the Creator and Host - Patrick Cairns

About the Creator and Host

Patrick Cairns: "Lemme tell you a story..." will undoubtably be one of the first things Patrick Cairns says when you meet him. That story might be about growing up in the shadow of Table Mountain in Capetown, South Africa, where he spent his first 14 years restricted as a "coloured" citizen under the laws of apartheid. After his parents found a way for his family to emigrate to Winnipeg, Canada, Patrick began competing in track and field at national levels. As a graphic and visual artist, he co-founded Sports Masters, a digital magazine with a mission to create a community of peace, cooperation, camaraderie, inspiration and sport for mature individuals—master athletes, aged 35+—across the globe. In 2010, he partnered with Matt Fabbri to form 1310 Productions and tell his sister’s story of oppression in sport and swimming in apartheid-era South Africa. Teaming up with ATTN: and Jessica Biel’s Iron Ocean, Cairns and Fabbri brought The Lost Olympians to Audible. He and his wife Rhonda have raised six kids and four grandsons and live and work in Winnipeg, which sits on Treaty One land, in the heart of Canada.
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About the Creator - Matt Klinman

About the Creator

Matt Klinman is a writer, director, and actor living in Los Angeles. He got his start writing for Funny or Die and The Onion, where he wrote for video series including Onion News Network, Sex House, and Porkin’ Across America. In audio, he co-created the Team Coco series Smartr and wrote for Spotify's The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon and Audible's 64th Man. In television, his credits include shows for Comedy Central and the Adult Swim infomercials For Profit Online University, Smart Pipe, and Book of Christ. He also created and stars in the show High Science on Discovery and HBOMax.
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.