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Australian Olympic rower Bobby Pierce was leading
in the quarterfinals of the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam when he heard a roar from the crowd ahead
of him. He looked over his shoulder to see what all the commotion was about only to
find that a mother duck was leading her string of ducklings directlly in front
of him. He stopped and waited for her ducklings to slowly cross by giving
Frenchman Vincent Saurin a chance to catch up, who not stopping for the ducks,
passed him and had a five length lead on him before Bobby Pierce began rowing
again. During the last 1000 meters Bobby Pierce passed the Frenchman and still
won the quarterfinal. The single sculls event pits two rowers against each other
and despite stopping and waiting for the ducks Bobby still finished with the
fastest time of all the eight rowers who competed in the four seperate
quarterfinal races. Someone once said that we can judge a man's
character by the way he treats animals. You will be delighted to
know that Bobby Pierce continued onto the finals, not only
capturing the
gold medal but setting the world record for the 2,000 meter single sculls event.
And if you believe in karma, Bobby's karma must have included
some annual dividends because his
world record would not be broken for an astounding 44 years. |
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