Men's double sculls was an event in Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. The event was held at Lake Lanier between July 21 and July 27, 1996.
France, Norway, and Germany had won 11 of the last 12 World Championship medals and were represented at the 1996 Summer Olympics by Frédéric Kowal and Samuel Barathay, Kjetil Undset and Steffen Størseth, and Sebastian Mayer and Roland Opfer respectively. France, represented in part by Barathay, was the 1993 World Champion and 1994 bronze medalist. Norway was the 1994 World Champion and 1993 runner-up and, with its Olympic duo, the 1995 bronze medalist, while Undset was also an Olympic silver medalist from the 1992 quadruple sculls. Germany had been runner-up at the last two editions of the World Championships and a bronze medalist in 1993. The lone exception to the dominance of these three nations was Denmark, who won the 1995 World Championships with Lars Christensen and Martin Haldbo Hansen. Australia, meanwhile, sent one of its defending Olympic champions, Peter Antonie, to Atlanta with a new partner, Jason Day. Antoine was also one half of the winning crew at the 1995 Double Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. Hungary's Zsolt Dani and Gábor Mitring were the 1994 winners of that tournament.
In the opening round, Norway posted the fastest time by nearly five seconds, while the other heats were won by Denmark and the Italian duo of Davide Tizzano and Agostino Abbagnale, both of whom were Olympic champions in the quadruple sculls from 1988. The Hungarians, meanwhile, were eliminated in the repêchage. In the semi-finals it was France who eliminated the Australians with the fastest time in the round, nearly three seconds ahead of its closest competition, while Italy won the other heat. The race in the final was closer, but Italy, Norway, and France were all ahead of the pack and crossed the finish line in that order. Denmark, the reigning World Champions, came in fourth nearly five seconds later.
Medalists
GoldSilverBronzeDavide TizzanoAgostino AbbagnaleKjetil UndsetSteffen Størseth Frédéric KowalSamuel Barathay
Heats SA/B denotes qualification to Semifinal A/B. R denotes qualification to Repechage.
Heat 1 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Kjetil Undset, Steffen Størseth6:43.35SA/B2Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol6:48.13R3Peter Antonie, Jason Day6:50.15R4 Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška6:55.87R5Lee In-su, Lee Ho7:11.56R
Heat 2 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Lars Christensen, Martin Haldbo Hansen6:48.75SA/B2Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer6:51.41R3Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx6:54.80R4Erik Tul, Luka Špik7:02.48R5 Melquiades Verduras, José Antonio Merín7:13.99R
Heat 3 James Cracknell was one of the nominated British scullers but he was suffering from tonsillitis; Guy Pooley as backup rower replaced him. RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Davide Tizzano, Agostino Abbagnale6:48.22SA/B2Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds6:52.80R3Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo6:55.40R4Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst6:56.55R5Guy Pooley, Robert Thatcher7:00.74R
Heat 4 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Frédéric Kowal, Samuel Barathay6:44.01SA/B2Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett6:48.03R3Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho6:49.92R4Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring6:57.63R
Repechage SA/B denotes qualification to Semifinal A/B. RR denotes qualification to Rerace
Repechage 1 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst6:43.52SA/B2Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx6:48.45SA/B3Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol6:53.21RR
Repechage 2 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer6:43.52SA/B2Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo6:48.02SA/B3Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring6:50.02RR4Lee In-su, Lee Ho7:09.71RR
Repechage 3 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds6:51.19SA/B2Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška6:53.54SA/B3Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho6:56.93RR4Melquiades Verduras, José Antonio Merín6:59.57RR
Repechage 4 The British replacement rower Pooley also replaced Cracknell in the repechage. RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett6:51.93SA/B2Peter Antonie, Jason Day6:51.98SA/B3Guy Pooley, Robert Thatcher7:00.81RR4Erik Tul, Luka Špik7:06.06RR
Rerace FC denotes qualification to Final C E denotes eliminated from competition
Rerace 1 The British rower Cracknell had by now recovered from his tonsillitis and took over from the replacement rower Pooley. RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring6:47.77C2James Cracknell, Robert Thatcher6:51.22C3Melquiades Verduras, José Antonio Merín6:55.00E
Rerace 2 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol6:48.53C2Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho6:52.73C3Erik Tul, Luka Špik6:56.43C4Lee In-su, Lee Ho7:05.08E
Semi-finals F/A denotes qualification to Final A. F/B denotes qualification to Final B.
Semi-final 1 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Davide Tizzano, Agostino Abbagnale6:37.39F/A2Kjetil Undset, Steffen Størseth6:40.15F/A3Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer6:42.57F/A4 Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett 6:46.35 F/B5Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx6:48.13F/B6Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška6:55.73F/B
Semi-final 2 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Frédéric Kowal, Samuel Barathay 6:32.86F/A2Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst6:35.76F/A3Lars Christensen, Martin Haldbo Hansen6:37.10F/A4Peter Antonie, Jason Day6:39.49F/B5 Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds6:40.68F/B6Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo7:03.53F/B
Finals
Final C RankRowersCountryTime1Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol6:40.622Erik Tul, Luka Špik6:43.553Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho6:47.124Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring6:50.905James Cracknell, Robert Thatcher6:51.41
Final B RankRowersCountryTime1Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett 6:18.372Peter Antonie, Jason Day6:19.253Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds6:20.824 Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx6:21.89 5Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška6:26.516Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo6:26.84
Final A RankRowersCountryTime1Davide Tizzano, Agostino Abbagnale6:16.682Kjetil Undset, Steffen Størseth6:18.423Frédéric Kowal, Samuel Barathay 6:19.854Lars Christensen, Martin Haldbo Hansen6:24.775 Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst6:25.176Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer6:29.32 *
References