Bobby Pearce (rower)

Henry Robert Pearce

Pearce in the 1930s
Personal information
Nationality	Australian, later Canadian
Born	(1905-09-30)30 September 1905 Double Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Died	20 May 1976(1976-05-20) (aged 70) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height	188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	92 kg (203 lb)
Sport
Sport	Rowing
Club	Sydney Rowing Club
Medal record Representing  Australia Olympic Games 1928 Amsterdam Single sculls 1932 Los Angeles Single sculls British Empire Games 1930 Hamilton Single sculls Diamond Challenge Sculls 1931 Henley-on-Thames Single sculls Gold Cup Challenge 1928 Philadelphia Single sculls

Henry Robert "Bobby" Pearce (30 September 1905 – 20 May 1976) was an Australian sculler of the 1920s and 1930s who won the gold medal in the single sculls at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He won the World Sculling Championship in 1933, a title he defended successfully twice in 1934 and 1938. He was also a winner of the Diamond Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta.

Pearce was born in Sydney, Australia, into a family with an extraordinary sporting pedigree. His great-grandfather emigrated from England in 1850 and settled in Double Bay, in Sydney's harbourside district, where he worked as a fisherman and ran a boatshed. Pearce's grandfather Henry John "Harry" Pearce, Sr. was an Australian champion in sculling. Harry Pearce had five sons and seven daughters.

Pearce's father, Henry J "Harry, Jr" Pearce Jr., was an Australian sculling champion and challenged for the world championship twice (in 1911 and 1913), losing to Richard Arnst (NZL) and Ernest Barry (GBR) respectively. One of Pearce's aunts was a New South Wales swimming champion. Pearce's uncle Sandy Pearce, was a national rugby league representative inducted into that sport's Australian Hall of Fame. Sandy's sons (Bobby's cousins) were Cecil a sculler, who represented for Australia at the 1936 Summer Olympics and Sid Pearce who also played rugby league for Australia. Cecil's son Gary Pearce would row in three Olympic games from 1964 to 1972.