Canadian Doubles, 1,000 metres, Men

Germany, the defending Olympic champion in the C-2 1000, had a new duo in the form of Andreas Dittmer and Gunar Kirchbach, who were the 1994 World Champions and the 1995 bronze medalists. Hungary’s György Kolonics and Csaba Horváth, meanwhile, were the reigning World Champions. Nicolae Juravschi and Victor Reneischi had won the C-2 500 and 1000 for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Games, but had been denied the opportunity to defend their crown under the banner of the Soviet successor “Unified Team” (Juravschi, however, was eventually given the chance to compete for Romania). At the 1996 Olympics, however, they were representing Moldova together and were eager to race once more. In the opening round, Hungary came in second to the Romanian duo of Antonel Borşan and Marcel Glăvan, while Moldova was relegated to the semi-finals in a heat won by Dittmer and Kirchbach. The medal round ended a close three-way battle between Germany, Romania, and Hungary, who finished in that order with only 0.644 seconds between them. Olympic champions Kolnics and Horváth would go on to take bronze in the C-1 500 the following day.