THE SPORT OF ROWING three-mile race during the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Pearce was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete of 1938 and retired undefeated. “In 1939, Pearce became a professional wrestler, performing until the spring of 1940. “During World War II, Pearce joined the Royal Canadian Navy, and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander by his retirement in 1956. He then resumed his work as a liquor salesman, and in 1972 became a Canadian citizen. “Pearce died in Toronto of a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 70.”6266 Bobby was “the first Australian to win Gold Medals at successive Olympics and the only single sculler before World War II to win the event twice.”6267 His cousin, Cecil Pearce, represented Australia in the singles at the 1936 Olympics, and Cecil’s son, Gary would row in three Olympic Games from 1964 through 1972, winning Silver in the eights at Xochimilco in 1968. The next great Australian scullers came after World War II, first Merv Wood and then Stuart Mackenzie. Their stories were presented in Chapter 86. Aussie sweep rowers would only begin to leave their mark on modern international rowing beginning in the 1970s. Organizing Sport in Australia Rowing News: “Australia has a long tradition of excellence in sport, so when the nation’s international performances declined in the 1960s and ‘70s, public pressure forced the government to act.”6268 The 1968 Australian Men’s Eight, formed from a core of athletes at Sydney Rowing Club, rowed superbly to gain the 6266 en.wikipedia.org, Bobby Pearce 6267 Poke, p. ix 6268 Macia, p. 52 Silver Medal behind Ratzeburg at altitude in Mexico City, but after a particularly disappointing showing at Olympics, a commission was formed to study Australia’s problem, and it recommended the formation of a national sports institute similar to the Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur in Leipzig, GDR’s world renowned Institute of Physical Education.6269 In 1981, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) was formed to provide scholarships, coaching, sports science, sports medicine and state-of-the-art facilities to Australian athletes in twenty-six sports. Australia and U.S. National Coach Tim McLaren: “Australian rowing had origin- ally been organized very much like the U.S. system of that time, with strong interstate and club rivalries, especially between New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. “The selection system was also very similar to that of America. The King’s Cup was the country’s premier eights race where every state had a crew that raced for the right to represent Australia at the World Championships or Olympic Games. Often there was just one change to the winning crew – and unfortunately it was often the bow-man! “The current system started in the late ‘70s with Reinhold Batschi.6270 There is a combination of both open trials in small boats and further camps/trials for larger boat selections. The King’s Cup is still the premier eights race, but more for bragging rights than selection purposes.”6271 Peter Antonie In Australian rowing during the 1970s, the only really successful international 6269 See Chapter 119. 6270 See later in this chapter. 6271 McLaren, personal correspondence, 2011 the 1976 1746
