Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's lightweight double sculls
# Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's lightweight double sculls

The men's lightweight double sculls competition at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Georgia, USA took place at Lake Lanier.

## Competition format

This was the first time this event was a part of the Olympic rowing regatta.

This rowing event is a double scull event, meaning that each boat is propelled by a pair of rowers. The "scull" portion means that the rower uses two oars, one on each side of the boat; this contrasts with sweep rowing in which each rower has one oar and rows on only one side. As a lightweight rowing competition, the body mass of the rowers was limited to a maximum of 72.5 kilograms each and 70 kilograms on average.

The competition consisted of multiple rounds. Finals were held to determine the placing of each boat; these finals were given letters with those nearer to the beginning of the alphabet meaning a better ranking. Semifinals were named based on which finals they fed, with each semifinal having two possible finals.

With 19 boats in heats, the best boats qualify directly for the semi-finals. All other boats progress to the repechage round, which offers a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals. Unsuccessful boats from the repechage must proceed to final C, which determines places 13-18. The best three boats in each of the two semi-finals qualify for final A, which determines places 1–6 (including the medals). Unsuccessful boats from semi-finals A/B go forward to final B, which determines places 7–12.

## Results

### Heats

The winner of each heat advanced to the semifinals, remainder goes to the repechage.

**Heat 1**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Maarten van der Linden Pepijn Aardewijn | Netherlands | 6:49.93 | Q |
| 2 | Tom Auth Stephen Peterson | United States | 6:50.55 | R |
| 3 | Vasileios Polymeros Ioannis Kourkourikis | Greece | 6:50.57 | R |
| 4 | Fernando Zapata Agustin Rocha | Argentina | 7:07.50 | R |
| 5 | Mattias Tichy Anders Christensson | Sweden | 7:18.87 | R |

**Heat 2**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Jose Maria de Marco Juan Carlos Saez | Spain | 6:46.66 | Q |
| 2 | Marco Audisio Michelangelo Crispi | Italy | 6:47.26 | R |
| 3 | Robert Sycz Grzegorz Wdowiak | Poland | 6:54.68 | R |
| 4 | Brendan Dolan Niall O'Toole | Ireland | 6:56.28 | R |
| 5 | Nick Strange Andrew Sinton | Great Britain | 6:56.86 | R |

**Heat 3**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Markus Gier Michael Gier | Switzerland | 6:47.28 | Q |
| 2 | Wolfgang Sigl Walter Rantasa | Austria | 6:54.36 | R |
| 3 | Magne Kvalvik Tor Albert Ersdal | Norway | 6:57.37 | R |
| 4 | Raul Leon Alexis Arias | Cuba | 7:01.03 | R |
| 5 | Adam Michalek Michal Vabrousek | Czech Republic | 7:16.07 | R |

**Heat 4**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Anthony Edwards, Bruce Hick | Australia | 6:49.95 | Q |
| 2 | Peter Uhrig Ingo Euler | Germany | 6:54.82 | R |
| 3 | Kenichi Obinata Hitoshi Hase | Japan | 6:56.17 | R |
| 4 | Rob Hamill Mike Rodger | New Zealand | 7:09.61 | R |

### Repechage

The first 2 boats in each repechage qualified for semi-finals 1/2 and the rest for semi-finals 3/4

**Repechage 1**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mattias Tichy Anders Christensson | Sweden | 6:17.84 | 1/2 |
| 2 | Peter Uhrig Ingo Euler | Germany | 6:18.11 | 1/2 |
| 3 | Brendan Dolan Niall O'Toole | Ireland | 6:18.38 | 3/4 |
| 4 | Magne Kvalvik Tor Albert Ersdal | Norway | 6:26.68 | 3/4 |

**Repechage 2**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Wolfgang Sigl Walter Rantasa | Austria | 6:21.10 | 1/2 |
| 2 | Robert Sycz Grzegorz Wdowiak | Poland | 6:24.19 | 1/2 |
| 3 | Fernando Zapata Agustin Rocha | Argentina | 6:28.08 | 3/4 |

**Repechage 3**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Marco Audisio Michelangelo Crispi | Italy | 6:19.95 | 1/2 |
| 2 | Vasileios Polymeros Ioannis Kourkourikis | Greece | 6:24.40 | 1/2 |
| 3 | Adam Michalek Michal Vabrousek | Czech Republic | 6:30.34 | 3/4 |
| 4 | Rob Hamill Mike Rodger | New Zealand | 6:34.78 | 3/4 |

**Repechage 4**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Tom Auth Stephen Peterson | United States | 6:20.93 | 1/2 |
| 2 | Nick Strange Andrew Sinton | Great Britain | 6:22.27 | 1/2 |
| 3 | Raul Leon Alexis Arias | Cuba | 6:23.52 | 3/4 |
| 4 | Kenichi Obinata Hitoshi Hase | Japan | 6:24.68 | 3/4 |

### Semifinals

In the first 2 Semi-finals, the first three places advance to Final A, the remainder to Final B. In 3rd and 4th Semi-finals, the last place finisher was eliminated and the remaining boats advanced to Final C.

**Semifinal 1**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Markus Gier Michael Gier | Switzerland | 6:25.37 | A |
| 2 | Maarten van der Linden Pepijn Aardewijn | Netherlands | 6:27.07 | A |
| 3 | Wolfgang Sigl Walter Rantasa | Austria | 6:28.06 | A |
| 4 | Tom Auth Stephen Peterson | United States | 6:29.80 | B |
| 5 | Vasileios Polymeros Ioannis Kourkourikis | Greece | 6:34.84 | B |
| 6 | Peter Uhrig Ingo Euler | Germany | 6:40.14 | B |

**Semifinal 2**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mattias Tichy Anders Christensson | Sweden | 6:29.17 | A |
| 2 | Anthony Edwards, Bruce Hick | Australia | 6:29.27 | A |
| 3 | Jose Maria de Marco Juan Carlos Saez | Spain | 6:29.37 | A |
| 4 | Marco Audisio Michelangelo Crispi | Italy | 6:30.46 | B |
| 5 | Nick Strange Andrew Sinton | Great Britain | 6:39.20 | B |
| 6 | Robert Sycz Grzegorz Wdowiak | Poland | 6:39.56 | B |

**Semifinal 3**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Adam Michalek Michal Vabrousek | Czech Republic | 6:41.41 | C |
| 2 | Kenichi Obinata Hitoshi Hase | Japan | 6:45.08 | C |
| 3 | Brendan Dolan Niall O'Toole | Ireland | 8:14.64 | |

**Semifinal 4**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Magne Kvalvik Tor Albert Ersdal | Norway | 6:36.30 | C |
| 2 | Raul Leon Alexis Arias | Cuba | 6:37.40 | C |
| 3 | Fernando Zapata Agustin Rocha | Argentina | 6:38.55 | C |
| 4 | Rob Hamill Mike Rodger | New Zealand | 6:41.39 | |

### Finals

**Final C**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| 13 | Adam Michalek Michal Vabrousek | Czech Republic | 6:53.14 |
| 14 | Magne Kvalvik Tor Albert Ersdal | Norway | 6:55.35 |
| 14 | Kenichi Obinata Hitoshi Hase | Japan | 6:56.13 |
| 15 | Raul Leon Alexis Arias | Cuba | 6:58.63 |
| 16 | Fernando Zapata Agustin Rocha | Argentina | 7:04.67 |

**Final B**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| 7 | Robert Sycz Grzegorz Wdowiak | Poland | 6:24.95 |
| 8 | Marco Audisio Michelangelo Crispi | Italy | 6:25.04 |
| 9 | Tom Auth Stephen Peterson | United States | 6:25.89 |
| 10 | Vasileios Polymeros Ioannis Kourkourikis | Greece | 6:27.94 |
| 11 | Peter Uhrig Ingo Euler | Germany | 6:30.43 |
| 12 | Nick Strange Andrew Sinton | Great Britain | 6:31.15 |

**Final A**

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| | Markus Gier Michael Gier | Switzerland | 6:23.47 |
| | Maarten van der Linden Pepijn Aardewijn | Netherlands | 6:26.48 |
| | Anthony Edwards, Bruce Hick | Australia | 6:26.69 |
| 4 | Jose Maria de Marco Juan Carlos Saez | Spain | 6:28.09 |
| 5 | Wolfgang Sigl Walter Rantasa | Austria | 6:30.85 |
| 6 | Mattias Tichy Anders Christensson | Sweden | 6:34.78 |
