Kayak Doubles, 500 metres, Men

New Zealand’s Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald were the 1984 Olympic and 1985 World Champions in the men’s K-2 500, as well as the 1987 World runners-up, and were favorites to defend their crown at the 1988 Summer Games. They were certain to encounter challenges from West Germany’s Reiner Scholl and Thomas Pfrang, the 1986 World Champions, and 1987 World Champion Hungary, who was represented in Seoul by Attila Ábrahám and Ferenc Csipes. New Zealand and West Germany met in the heats, with the former emerging victorious in Olympic record time. The other heats were won by Hungary and Ihor Nahaiev and Viktor Denisov, who were sent by the Soviet Union, the 1985 and 1986 World bronze medalist nation. West Germany posted the fastest time in the semi-finals, defeating the Soviet Union in the process, while Hungary and New Zealand took the other heats. In the medal round, the race to the finish was an exciting four-way battle between these nations, with New Zealand, the Soviet Union, Hungary, and West Germany all crossing in that order within 0.42 seconds of one another. Each of the medalists from this event would go on to claim more Olympic glory at the Games: the New Zealanders would be runners-up in the K-2 1000, the Hungarians would become Olympic champions in the K-4 1000, while the Soviets would claim silver in that event.