Henry Pearce

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Henry Pearce

Henry Robert ("Bobby") Pearce (born September 30, 1905 in Sydney , † May 20, 1976 in Toronto ) was an Australian rower who was successful in the 1920s and 1930s with the one . He won an Olympic gold medal in 1928 and 1932, was world champion three times among professionals and also won the Henley Royal Regatta . He later moved to Canada and took Canadian citizenship.

biography

Pearce was born into a family who loved sports. His great-grandfather immigrated from England in 1850 and settled on Double Bay in Sydney; As a change from his job as a fisherman, he ran a shed for rowing boats. The grandfather John Pearce sr. was Australian champion in single rowing, as was father John Pearce Jr. One of Pearce's aunts was a New South Wales swimming champion and his uncle Sandy Pearce was a successful rugby league player. Brother Cecil Pearce took part in the 1936 single row at the Olympic Games.

Pearce started rowing at the age of six. He finished school early to become a carpenter and later worked in his father's fishing business. From 1923 he served in the Australian Army . After winning the army championship in heavyweight boxing , he turned to rowing in 1926. From 1927 to 1929 he won the Australian championships three times in a row. In 1928 he wanted to take part in the Henley Royal Regatta . He was refused participation because he was a carpenter by trade and until 1937 only rowers were allowed who did not earn their living through physical labor.

At the opening ceremony of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam , Pearce was the flag bearer of the Australian team. He won the Olympic races with ease and by a large margin, even when he had to stop briefly in the quarter-finals to let a family of ducks pass. In the final race he won the gold medal with an Olympic record 25 seconds better .

During the Great Depression , Pearce was unemployed. It was only with the financial support of friends that he was able to take part in the 1930 British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada . He prevailed in the single race against the Englishman Jack Beresford and attracted the attention of the whiskey manufacturer Lord Dewar, who offered him a job as a salesman. This enabled him to take part in the Henley Royal Regatta in 1931 and won the race by half a boat's length ahead.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles , Pearce won the gold medal for the second time with just under a second advantage, the rest of the field was almost half a minute behind. Although he now lived in Canada, he had to continue to compete for Australia according to the rules of the IOC . A year later he became a professional rower, which excluded him from further participation. He won the Professional World Championship in Toronto in 1933 and repeated this success in London in 1934 . Shortly after the death of his wife in 1938, he won a third time in Toronto, then resigned and received the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's Sportsman of the Year .

From 1939 to 1940 Pearce was active as a professional wrestler and then volunteered in the reserve forces of the Royal Canadian Navy . He was promoted to lieutenant and was responsible for training new soldiers, for the Navy he also did public relations. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and returned to civilian life in 1956. Pearce returned to work as a salesman and became a Canadian citizen in 1970.

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personal data
SURNAME Pearce, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pearce, Henry Robert (full name); Pearce, Bobby
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian-Canadian rower
DATE OF BIRTH September 30, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney
DATE OF DEATH May 20, 1976
Place of death Toronto