Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed pair
The men's coxed pair competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Han River Regatta Course, South Korea.
Competition format
The competition consisted of three main rounds as well as a repechage. The 14 boats were divided into three heats for the first round, with 4 or 5 boats in each heat. The top three boats in each heat advanced directly to the semifinals. The remaining 5 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured a single heat, with the top three boats advancing to the semifinals and the remaining 2 boats being eliminated. The 12 semifinalist boats were divided into two heats of 6 boats each. The top three boats in each semifinal advanced to the "A" final to compete for medals and 4th through 6th place; the bottom three boats in each semifinal were sent to the "B" final for 7th through 12th.All races were over a 2000 metre course.
Results
Heats
The heats were held on September 20. It was a sunny but cool day, with fairly calm winds. The top three boats in each heat advanced to the semifinals, with all others going to the repechage. No boats were eliminated in this round.Heat 1
Bulgaria led early, including by nearly a second at the halfway mark, but the East German team had a strong second half and passed Bulgaria for the lead. The other three teams had already started separate by 500 metres; at 1500 metres, 7 seconds separated New Zealand in third place from Canada in fourth place. Canada and fifth-place Brazil did narrow the distance somewhat in the final 500 metres, but the gap was insurmountable.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | René Rensch | 7:11.24 | |||
| 2 | Stefan Stoykov | 7:15.24 | |||
| 3 | Andrew Bird | 7:22.32 | |||
| 4 | Pat Newman | 7:25.18 | |||
| 5 | Nilton Alonço | 7:27.68 |
Heat 2
The top three boats jockeyed for position, while Poland and Ireland never threatened to break into the advancing group. The Americans held the lead at the 500 metre and 1000 metre marks. Yugoslavia was in second at the 500 metre point, but was passed by the Soviets before halfway. The Soviets captured the lead from the United States in the third quarter of the course, and Yugoslavia passed the Americans as well in the final 500 metre stretch.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Andrey Lipsky | 7:12.96 | |||
| 2 | Roman Ambrožič | 7:14.96 | |||
| 3 | Jon Fish | 7:17.36 | |||
| 4 | Ireneusz Omięcki | 7:21.89 | |||
| 5 | Liam Williams | 7:33.16 |
Heat 3
The final heat was not competitive in terms of who would advance; Czechoslovakia fell behind early and only increased the gap as the race went on. The top thee boats remained relatively tightly packed, with Italy building up a small lead through the first 1500 metres and holding off late pushes from the other two teams in the last 500 metres to maintain a narrow win. Less than a second separated first from third at the finish.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppe Di Capua | 7:03.55 | |||
| 2 | Patrick Sweeney | 7:04.04 | |||
| 3 | Ladislau Lovrenschi | 7:04.48 | |||
| 4 | Jiří Pták | 7:26.53 |
Repechage
The repechage was held on September 21. It was a sunny and warmer day, with 1.1 m/s west-northwest wind. The top three boats advanced to the semifinals, while 4th and 5th place were eliminated. Brazil fell significantly behind early. Ireland stayed within a second of third place through the 1500 metre mark, but could not maintain the pace in the last 500 metres and fell back from the lead group—and even behind Brazil, which pushed hard to avoid last place. Within the lead group, Poland held the lead at halfway but Czechoslovakia had a strong second half to pull away to a wide margin of victory. Canada, in third the entire race, made an effort to catch Poland for second at the end but came up short.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jiří Pták | 7:14.17 | |||
| 2 | Ireneusz Omięcki | 7:18.21 | |||
| 3 | Pat Newman | 7:18.60 | |||
| 4 | Nilton Alonço | 7:21.31 | |||
| 5 | Liam Williams | 7:23.87 |
Semifinals
The semifinals were held on September 22. It was a warm, sunny day, with winds of 1.6 m/s west-northwest in the first heat calming to 1.1 m/s west for the second. The top three boats in each heat advanced to the "A" final, with the bottom three eliminated from medal contention and placed in the "B" consolation final.Semifinal 1
New Zealand withdrew. Italy led wire-to-wire, recording the best time in the event in Olympic history. The East Germans and Romanians battled for second place, with East Germany prevailing over the second half. Neither Yugoslavia nor Poland had much chance at breaking into the top three, finishing 9 and 13 seconds out of third, respectively.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giuseppe Di Capua | 6:56.62 | |||
| 2 | René Rensch | 6:58.08 | |||
| 3 | Ladislau Lovrenschi | 7:00.36 | |||
| 4 | Roman Ambrožič | 7:09.45 | |||
| 5 | Ireneusz Omięcki | 7:13.48 | |||
| 6 | Andrew Bird |
Semifinal 2
The second semifinal was a five-way race for three spots in the "A" final through the halfway mark. Bulgaria had the lead from the start, with the Soviets, Brits, Americans, and Czechoslovakians fairly close behind. Canada was over 3 seconds out of fifth place at that point, and while the Canadians had a better second half than first, they would not come close to reaching the top three. In the third quarter of the race, Czechoslovakia and especially the United States fell off the pace of the lead group; Czechoslovakia passed the Americans but saw their gap to third place Great Britain widen to 3 seconds. The Brits made a charge in the final quarter of the race, passing the Soviets and nearly catching Bulgaria; the latter team held them off, though, and won by 0.28 seconds. Canada caught their southern neighbors in the last 500 metres, as well.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Stefan Stoykov | 7:01.23 | |||
| 2 | Patrick Sweeney | 7:01.51 | |||
| 3 | Andrey Lipsky | 7:01.78 | |||
| 4 | Jiří Pták | 7:04.20 | |||
| 5 | Pat Newman | 7:06.21 | |||
| 6 | Jon Fish | 7:07.05 |
Finals
Final B
The "B" final for 7th through 11th place was held on September 23, with 16.9 °C cloudy weather and a 1 m/s east-southeast wind. Czechoslovakia led from the start, increasing the margin over each 500 metre stretch. Yugoslavia held second place throughout. The United States held third place through the first half of the race but once again had a slow third quarter, allowing Poland to overtake them. Canada—just as it had in the semifinals—finished strong, passing the Americans once again in the final quarter and nearly catching Poland for third place.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| 7 | Jiří Pták | 7:11.30 | ||
| 8 | Roman Ambrožič | 7:15.82 | ||
| 9 | Ireneusz Omięcki | 7:18.60 | ||
| 10 | Pat Newman | 7:18.89 | ||
| 11 | Jon Fish | 7:24.18 |
Final A
The final was held on September 25, a sunny day with 17.2 °C temperatures and 2.2 m/s northeast winds. It was dominated by Italy, which jumped to an over 2 second lead at 500 metres and never was seriously challenged. Bulgaria kept closest through most of the race, second place at each of the quarter, half, and three-quarter marks, but could not maintain their speed in the final quarter. The East Germans jumped from fifth to second in the final stretch; Great Britain and Romania each passed Bulgaria but were passed by East Germany to hold the third and fourth places they had held since halfway. The Soviets had been competitive early but fell to sixth by 100 metres and were well out of any contention for better than that.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| Giuseppe Di Capua | 6:58.79 | |||
| René Rensch | 7:00.63 | |||
| Patrick Sweeney | 7:01.95 | |||
| 4 | Ladislau Lovrenschi | 7:02.60 | ||
| 5 | Stefan Stoykov | 7:03.04 | ||
| 6 | Andrey Lipsky | 7:06.07 |
Final classification
| Rank | Rowers | Country |
| Carmine Abbagnale Giuseppe Abbagnale Giuseppe Di Capua | ||
| Mario Streit Detlef Kirchhoff René Rensch | ||
| Andy Holmes Steve Redgrave Patrick Sweeney | ||
| 4 | Dimitrie Popescu Vasile Tomoiagă Ladislau Lovrenschi | |
| 5 | Emil Groytsev Atanas Andreev Stefan Stoykov | |
| 6 | Andrey Korikov Roman Kazantsev Andrey Lipsky | |
| 7 | Jan Kabrhel Jiří Pták Milan Škopek | |
| 8 | Roman Ambrožič Milan Janša Sašo Mirjanič | |
| 9 | Wojciech Jankowski Ireneusz Omięcki Jacek Streich | |
| 10 | Ian McKerlich Pat Newman Dave Ross | |
| 11 | Robert Espeseth Jr. Jon Fish Daniel Lyons | |
| 12 | Andrew Bird Greg Johnston Chris White | |
| 13 | Nilton Alonço Flávio de Melo Ángelo Roso Neto | |
| 14 | Pat McDonagh Frank Moore Liam Williams |