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.[1]

Men's coxed pair
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Date20–25 September
Competitors42 from 14 nations
Medalists
Carmine Abbagnale
Giuseppe Abbagnale
Giuseppe Di Capua
 Italy
Mario Streit
Detlef Kirchhoff
René Rensch
 East Germany
Andy Holmes
Steve Redgrave
Patrick Sweeney
 Great Britain

Competition format

The competition consisted of three main rounds (heats, semifinals, and finals) 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 (9 boats total) 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 (4th and 5th placers in the repechage) being eliminated (13th and 14th place overall). The 12 semifinalist boats were divided into two heats of 6 boats each. The top three boats in each semifinal (6 boats total) 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.[2]

All races were over a 2000 metre course.

Results

Heats

The heats were held on September 20. It was a sunny but cool day (14 °C for the first heat, rising steadily to 16 °C for the third), with fairly calm winds (less than 1 m/s for each heat). 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.[2]

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 (the last semifinal advancement spot) 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.[3]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1René Rensch East Germany7:11.24Q
2Stefan Stoykov Bulgaria7:15.24Q
3Andrew Bird New Zealand7:22.32Q
4Pat Newman Canada7:25.18R
5Nilton Alonço Brazil7:27.68R

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.[3]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Andrey Lipsky Soviet Union7:12.96Q
2Roman Ambrožič Yugoslavia7:14.96Q
3Jon Fish United States7:17.36Q
4Ireneusz Omięcki Poland7:21.89R
5Liam Williams Ireland7:33.16R

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 (1.6 seconds over Great Britain and 2.3 seconds over Romania) 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.[4]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Giuseppe Di Capua Italy7:03.55Q
2Patrick Sweeney Great Britain7:04.04Q
3Ladislau Lovrenschi Romania7:04.48Q
4Jiří Pták Czechoslovakia7:26.53R

Repechage

The repechage was held on September 21. It was a sunny and warmer day (22.3 °C), with 1.1 m/s west-northwest wind. The top three boats advanced to the semifinals, while 4th and 5th place were eliminated (13th and 14th overall). 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.[4]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Jiří Pták Czechoslovakia7:14.17Q
2Ireneusz Omięcki Poland7:18.21Q
3Pat Newman Canada7:18.60Q
4Nilton Alonço Brazil7:21.31
5Liam Williams Ireland7:23.87

Semifinals

The semifinals were held on September 22. It was a warm, sunny day (23 °C), 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 (except for New Zealand, which withdrew).[4]

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.[1][4]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Giuseppe Di Capua Italy6:56.62QA
2René Rensch East Germany6:58.08QA
3Ladislau Lovrenschi Romania7:00.36QA
4Roman Ambrožič Yugoslavia7:09.45QB
5Ireneusz Omięcki Poland7:13.48QB
6Andrew Bird New ZealandDNS

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.[3]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTimeNotes
1Stefan Stoykov Bulgaria7:01.23QA
2Patrick Sweeney Great Britain7:01.51QA
3Andrey Lipsky Soviet Union7:01.78QA
4Jiří Pták Czechoslovakia7:04.20QB
5Pat Newman Canada7:06.21QB
6Jon Fish United States7:07.05QB

Final B

The "B" final for 7th through 11th place (with only 5 boats due to New Zealand's semifinal withdrawal) 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. [1][4]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTime
7Jiří Pták Czechoslovakia7:11.30
8Roman Ambrožič Yugoslavia7:15.82
9Ireneusz Omięcki Poland7:18.60
10Pat Newman Canada7:18.89
11Jon Fish United States7:24.18

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 (third through 500 metres) but fell to sixth by 100 metres and were well out of any contention for better than that.[4]

RankRowersCoxswainNationTime
Giuseppe Di Capua Italy6:58.79
René Rensch East Germany7:00.63
Patrick Sweeney Great Britain7:01.95
4Ladislau Lovrenschi Romania7:02.60
5Stefan Stoykov Bulgaria7:03.04
6Andrey Lipsky Soviet Union7:06.07

Final classification

Rank Rowers Country
Carmine Abbagnale
Giuseppe Abbagnale
Giuseppe Di Capua
 Italy
Mario Streit
Detlef Kirchhoff
René Rensch
 East Germany
Andy Holmes
Steve Redgrave
Patrick Sweeney
 Great Britain
4 Dimitrie Popescu
Vasile Tomoiagă
Ladislau Lovrenschi
 Romania
5 Emil Groytsev
Atanas Andreev
Stefan Stoykov
 Bulgaria
6 Andrey Korikov
Roman Kazantsev
Andrey Lipsky
 Soviet Union
7 Jan Kabrhel
Jiří Pták
Milan Škopek
 Czechoslovakia
8 Roman Ambrožič
Milan Janša
Sašo Mirjanič
 Yugoslavia
9 Wojciech Jankowski
Ireneusz Omięcki
Jacek Streich
 Poland
10 Ian McKerlich
Pat Newman
Dave Ross
 Canada
11 Robert Espeseth Jr.
Jon Fish
Daniel Lyons
 United States
12 Andrew Bird
Greg Johnston
Chris White
 New Zealand
13 Nilton Alonço
Flávio de Melo
Ángelo Roso Neto
 Brazil
14 Pat McDonagh
Frank Moore
Liam Williams
 Ireland

References

  1. "Rowing at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's Coxed Pairs". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  2. Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 520–21.
  3. Official Report, vol. 2, p. 520.
  4. Official Report, vol. 2, p. 521.
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