The greatest moment in Olympic history was when Bobby Pearce the sculler, stopped for ducks because with an effort that would
have been considered impossible from any of his competitors, and even
today is hard to believe Pearce chased Savrin after stopping for the
duck and its ducklings, caught up with the Frenchmen and then by the
time the race was over Pearce had finished almost 30 seconds in front of
his challenger. In fact Bobby Pearce's time even with the stop included
was the fastest of the remaining eight scullers in that round. Pearce himself gave only one recorded version of the incident that occurred in his scull against Savrin."I had beaten a German and a Dane in
earlier heats and I was racing a Frenchman when I heard wild roars from
the crowd along the bank of the canal. I could see some spectators
vigorously pointing to something behind me, in my path. I peeked over
one shoulder and saw something I didn't like, for a family of ducks in
single file was swimming slowly from shore to shore. It's funny now, but
it wasn't at the time for I had to lean on my oars and wait for a clear
course, and all the while my opponenet was pulling away to a five
length lead." Not even swimming ducks could halt Bobby Pearce.
