Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's coxless pair

The men's coxless 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 (heats, semifinals, and finals) as well as a repechage. The 18 boats were divided into three heats for the first round, with 6 boats in each heat. The winner of each heat (3 boats total) advanced directly to the semifinals. The remaining 15 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured three heats, with 5 boats in each heat. The top three boats in each repechage heat (9 boats total) advanced to the semifinals. The remaining 6 boats (4th and 5th placers in the repechage heats) were eliminated. 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.

All races were over a 2000 metre course.

Heats
The heats were held on 19 September. The winner of each heat advanced to the semifinals, with all others going to the repechage. No boats were eliminated in this round.

Heat 1
The first heat featured a warm (18 °C) but rainy day, with 1.0 m/s northwest winds. The Soviet Union led early, with a half-second margin over Romania at 500 metres. The Romanians had a strong second 500 metres, though, and took a halfway lead which they maintained. Belgium slowly but surely moved up from fourth to second; the United States also passed the Soviets in the second half of the race. Brazil took fifth and Canada trailed significantly throughout.

Heat 2
By the second heat, the rain had stopped but the day remained cloudy. The temperature had risen to 18.9 °C, with calmer winds (0.7 m/s, south-southwest). Yugoslavia led throughout, followed by France most of the way. East Germany passed France in the final 500 metres. Australia, Finland, and Japan were widely spaced in fourth through sixth places.

Heat 3
It was cloudy and 17 °C for the third heat, with 0.9 m/s west-southwest wind. The top three places remained static, with Great Britain leading, West Germany second, and Austria third at each quarter mark. The other boats had more changes in position, with Norway starting in fourth before falling back to sixth. Spain ended up in fourth, with Argentina fifth.

Repechage
The repechage was held on 21 September. It was a sunny day, with the temperature warming from 15.7 °C for the first heat to 17.3 °C by the third. There were 1.3 m/s south-southwest winds to begin, shifting to east-southeast for the second heat, and calming to 0.3 m/s south-southwest in the third. The top three boats in each heat advanced to the semifinals, with the 4th and 5th placers being eliminated.

Repechage heat 1
East Germany took an early lead, with Canada close behind at 500 metres. By the halfway mark, the field had begun to solidify into two groups, with East Germany, the United States, and Finland in the lead group and Spain and Canada (having fallen back to last) in the second group. That grouping, which would eliminate the latter two teams, held through the rest of the race. East Germany briefly fell to third at the 1500 metre mark but regained the lead over the last quarter-race.

Repechage heat 2
Norway made the only personnel change of the event, swapping Audun Hadler-Olsen in for Ole Andreassen. Australia started strong, leading at the 500 metre and 1000 metre marks. But the Australian rowers had the weakest third quarter of any of the five boats, dropping all the way back to fourth place as Belgium charged from fourth to first. Austria and Brazil were in the second and third places. The leading three increased their separation from fourth-place Australia and fifth-place Norway in the last 500 metres.

Repechage heat 3
France held the lead for most of the race, through the 1500 metre mark. The West Germans were in third at 500 metres but gained on the French over the next two quarters and passed them in the final 500 metres of the race. The Soviet Union came to a relatively easy third-place finish, with Argentina and Japan never seriously threatening to advance.

Semifinals
The semifinals were held on 22 September. It was a sunny and warm day, rising from 19.4 °C to 23.9 °C between the first and second heats. It was windier for the first semifinal (1.8 m/s, south) than the second (0.6 m/s, east-northeast). The top three boats in each heat advanced to the "A" final, while the 4th through 6th place boats went to the "B" final out of medal contention.

Semifinal 1
Austria and Finland were not competitive from the start, essentially making this a four-way race for three advancement spots. Yugoslavia led at the 500 metre mark before Romania took control and ran away with the top spot. Two teams from the third repechage, West Germany and the Soviet Union, each spent time in the fourth spot, with the Soviets creating some separation in the third quarter and widening it in the final segment.

Semifinal 2
Great Britain took an early, significant lead—over 2.3 seconds by 500 metres—and increased it through the first three-quarters of the race before coasting to the win. France was in second place at 500 metres before falling all the way back to fifth at 1000 metres. The United States was in the second position at the halfway and three-quarter marks, but could not hold the pace and was passed by Belgium, East Germany, and France in the final quarter. Those three had similar splits in the last 500 metres, which kept France from advancing as the French team finished fourth.

Final B
The classification or "B" final was held on 23 September. It was sunny but cool (13 °C) at race time, with 2.6 m/s east-southeast wind. France and West Germany battled for the lead in this race, with France leading through halfway but West Germany finishing with the win (and 7th place overall). The United States and Brazil were third and fourth, respectively, at each quarter-mark; the Brazilians did have to survive a late press from Finland. Austria fell into last place by a significant margin (nearly a full minute behind the fifth-place Finland) during the third 500 metres, and finished the final quarter in over 4 minutes.

Final A
The main or "A" final was held on 24 September, a sunny 20.1 °C day with 2.2 m/s northeast wind. The three heat winners maintained the top three positions throughout, with Great Britain in first, Romania in second, and Yugoslavia in third. Belgium was sixth through the 500 metre mark, but moved up to fourth by halfway and stayed there. East Germany and the Soviet Union were also fairly well locked into the fifth and sixth places, respectively, at halfway. No boat finished within a second of another.