| | Event type
Duet, Women
| Date | 27 September – 1 October 1988 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Su-yeong-jang, Ol-lim-pik Gong-won, Seoul |
| Participants | 30 from 15 countries |
At the 1986 World Championships, the gold medal went to the Canadian pair of Michelle Cameron and Carolyn Waldo, defeating the American twin sisters, Karen and Sarah Josephson. Cameron and Waldo did not compete at the 1987 Pan-American Games, which were won by the Josephsons, but they did win the pre-Olympic event in Seoul in June 1988. The competition in this event was very close. Cameron and Waldo built up a good lead in the preliminaries. The Josephsons outscored them in the final, but could not overcome their lead. The Canadian duo was aided by the Canadian judge, who was the only one of seven judges who ranked Cameron and Waldo ahead of the Americans in the final round.
| Pos | Pair | NOC | Figures | Qualifying | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Cameron / Carolyn Waldo |  CAN | 98.917 (1) | 197.317 (1) | 197.717 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | Sarah Josephson / Karen Josephson |  USA | 97.684 (2) | 196.284 (2) | 197.284 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | Miyako Tanaka / Mikako Kotani |  JPN | 92.759 (3) | 189.559 (3) | 190.159 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | Karine Schuler / Anne Capron |  FRA | 88.592 (6) | 183.792 (4) | 184.792 (4) | |||
| 5 | Edith Boss / Karin Singer |  SUI | 88.950 (4) | 183.150 (5) | 183.950 (5) | |||
| 6 | Mariya Chernyayeva / Tatyana Titova |  URS | 88.667 (5) | 182.267 (6) | 182.667 (6) | |||
| 7 | Nicola Shearn / Lian Goodwin |  GBR | 86.275 (7) | 177.875 (7) | 179.075 (7) | |||
| 8 | Sonia Cárdenas / Lourdes Candini |  MEX | 83.800 (8) | 175.000 (8) | 176.833 (8) | |||
| 9 | Tan Min / Luo Xi |  CHN | 82.742 (11) | 173.742 (9) | – | |||
| 10 | Heike Friedrich / Gerlind Scheller |  FRG | 83.792 (9) | 172.592 (10) | – | |||
| 11 | Kim Mi-Jin-Su / Ha Su-Gyeong |  KOR | 82.200 (12) | 171.800 (11) | – | |||
| 12 | Érika McDavid / Eva Riera |  BRA | 83.425 (10) | 171.025 (12) | – | |||
| 13 | Lisa Lieschke / Semon Rohloff |  AUS | 79.642 (13) | 166.042 (13) | – | |||
| 14 | Eva López / Núria Ayala |  ESP | 77.475 (14) | 163.675 (14) | – | |||
| 15 | Yvette Thuis / Roswitha Lopez |  ARU | 72.375 (15) | 151.975 (15) | – |
Figures
| Date | 28 September 1988 — 8:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | The technical figure competition served as a qualifying round for the solo and duet event. All swimmers performed individually, with scores for the duets being the average of the two swimmers. The figure scores counted towards the qualifying and the final score. |
| Pos | Pair | NOC | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Cameron / Carolyn Waldo | CAN | 98.917 | ||
| 2 | Sarah Josephson / Karen Josephson | USA | 97.684 | ||
| 3 | Miyako Tanaka / Mikako Kotani | JPN | 92.759 | ||
| 4 | Edith Boss / Karin Singer | SUI | 88.950 | ||
| 5 | Mariya Chernyayeva / Tatyana Titova | URS | 88.667 | ||
| 6 | Karine Schuler / Anne Capron | FRA | 88.592 | ||
| 7 | Nicola Shearn / Lian Goodwin | GBR | 86.275 | ||
| 8 | Susana Candini / Lourdes Candini | MEX | 83.800 | ||
| 9 | Heike Friedrich / Gerlind Scheller | FRG | 83.792 | ||
| 10 | Érika McDavid / Eva Riera | BRA | 83.425 | ||
| 11 | Tan Min / Luo Xi | CHN | 82.742 | ||
| 12 | Kim Mi-Jin-Su / Ha Su-Gyeong | KOR | 82.200 | ||
| 13 | Lisa Lieschke / Semon Rohloff | AUS | 79.642 | ||
| 14 | Eva López / Núria Ayala | ESP | 77.475 | ||
| 15 | Yvette Thuis / Roswitha Lopez | ARU | 72.375 |
Qualifying Round
| Date | 27 – 28 September 1988 — 20:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top eight advanced to the final, based on score from the musical routine and technical figure round. |
| Pos | Pair | NOC | Points | Musical Routine Points | Figure Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Cameron / Carolyn Waldo | CAN | 197.317 | 98.40 | 98.917 | ||
| 2 | Sarah Josephson / Karen Josephson | USA | 196.284 | 98.60 | 97.684 | ||
| 3 | Miyako Tanaka / Mikako Kotani | JPN | 189.559 | 96.80 | 92.759 | ||
| 4 | Karine Schuler / Anne Capron | FRA | 183.792 | 95.20 | 88.592 | ||
| 5 | Edith Boss / Karin Singer | SUI | 183.150 | 94.20 | 88.950 | ||
| 6 | Mariya Chernyayeva / Tatyana Titova | URS | 182.267 | 93.60 | 88.667 | ||
| 7 | Nicola Shearn / Lian Goodwin | GBR | 177.875 | 91.60 | 86.275 | ||
| 8 | Susana Candini / Lourdes Candini | MEX | 175.000 | 91.20 | 83.800 | ||
| 9 | Tan Min / Luo Xi | CHN | 173.742 | 91.00 | 82.742 | ||
| 10 | Heike Friedrich / Gerlind Scheller | FRG | 172.592 | 88.80 | 83.792 | ||
| 11 | Kim Mi-Jin-Su / Ha Su-Gyeong | KOR | 171.800 | 89.60 | 82.200 | ||
| 12 | Érika McDavid / Eva Riera | BRA | 171.025 | 87.60 | 83.425 | ||
| 13 | Lisa Lieschke / Semon Rohloff | AUS | 166.042 | 86.40 | 79.642 | ||
| 14 | Eva López / Núria Ayala | ESP | 163.675 | 86.20 | 77.475 | ||
| 15 | Yvette Thuis / Roswitha Lopez | ARU | 151.975 | 79.60 | 72.375 |
Final
| Date | 1 October 1988 — 9:30 |
|---|---|
| Format | Score composed of scores from the musical routine and technical figure round. |
| Pos | Pair | NOC | Points | Musical Routine Points | Figure Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Cameron / Carolyn Waldo | CAN | 197.717 | 98.80 | 98.917 | ||
| 2 | Sarah Josephson / Karen Josephson | USA | 197.284 | 99.60 | 97.684 | ||
| 3 | Miyako Tanaka / Mikako Kotani | JPN | 190.159 | 97.40 | 92.759 | ||
| 4 | Karine Schuler / Anne Capron | FRA | 184.792 | 96.20 | 88.592 | ||
| 5 | Edith Boss / Karin Singer | SUI | 183.950 | 95.00 | 88.950 | ||
| 6 | Mariya Chernyayeva / Tatyana Titova | URS | 182.667 | 94.00 | 88.667 | ||
| 7 | Nicola Shearn / Lian Goodwin | GBR | 179.075 | 92.80 | 86.275 | ||
| 8 | Sonia Cárdenas / Lourdes Candini | MEX | 176.833 | 92.20 | 84.633 |