Bobby Pearce (rower)

Henry Robert "Bobby" Pearce (1905 to 1976) was an Australian sculler from a Sydney family of champion scullers. He won the Olympic single sculls in 1928 at Amsterdam, where he stopped for a moment to let a family of ducks pass and still won, and again in 1932 at Los Angeles. Barred from the Diamond Sculls at Henley in 1928 because he was a carpenter, he won the event in 1931 after taking a salesman's job in Canada. He turned professional, won the World Sculling Championship in 1933 and defended it in 1934 and 1938, retiring undefeated, and was named Canada's top athlete of 1938. He later served in the Royal Canadian Navy and was inducted into the Canadian Olympic and Sport Australia halls of fame.