# Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's coxless pair

The men's coxless pair (M2-) competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Casitas in Ventura County, California, United States. It was held from 30 July to 5 August and the outcome was wide open due to the Eastern Bloc boycott and thus the absence of the dominating team from East Germany. The event was won by the team from Romania.

## Background

East Germany had won the coxless pair competition at every Summer Olympics since the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico, and they were the reigning world champion. The Soviet Union had won silver at the last Summer Olympics in this event, had won the 1981 World Rowing Championships, and had won silver in 1983. With both nations absent due to the Soviet Bloc boycott, the only competing nation that had won recent world championships was Norway, which had won the title in 1982. The competition was thus regarded as wide open.

### Previous M2- competitions

| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1980 Summer Olympics | East Germany | Soviet Union | Great Britain |
| 1981 World Rowing Championships | Soviet Union | Netherlands | Italy |
| 1982 World Rowing Championships | Norway | East Germany | Netherlands |
| 1983 World Rowing Championships | East Germany | Soviet Union | Norway |

## Results
### Heats

The heats of the opening round were rowed on 31 July. The first three of every heat would progress to the semi-finals, whilst the other teams would go to the repechage.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Axel Wöstmann Thomas Möllenkamp | West Germany | 6:53.83 | SF |
| 2 | Fernando Climent Luis María Lasúrtegui | Spain | 6:54.34 | SF |
| 3 | Joost Adema Sjoerd Hoekstra | Netherlands | 7:01.47 | SF |
| 4 | John Houlding Jim Relle | Canada | 7:07.70 | R |
| 5 | Robert Booth Jim Stride | Australia | 7:23.71 | R |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans Magnus Grepperud Sverre Løken | Norway | 6:56.29 | SF |
| 2 | Petru Iosub Valer Toma | Romania | 6:56.60 | SF |
| 3 | Dave De Ruff John Strotbeck Jr. | United States | 7:00.34 | SF |
| 4 | Rubén D'Andrilli Claudio Guindón | Argentina | 7:00.87 | R |
| 5 | Alfred Fischer (rower) Markus Wechsler | Switzerland | 7:03.28 | R |

#### Heat 3

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marco Romano Pasquale Aiese | Italy | 7:03.06 | SF |
| 2 | Geoff Horan Allan Horan | New Zealand | 7:05.44 | SF |
| 3 | John Beattie Richard Stanhope | Great Britain | 7:16.39 | SF |
| 4 | Ronaldo de Carvalho Ricardo de Carvalho | Brazil | 7:32.69 | R |

### Repechage

The repechage was rowed on 1 August. The first three would progress to the semi-finals, whilst the other two teams were eliminated.
The Swiss team changed seats in the repechage and then maintained the new configuration for the rest of the competition.
| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Markus Wechsler Alfred Fischer (rower) | Switzerland | 7:02.94 | SF |
| 2 | Rubén D'Andrilli Claudio Guindón | Argentina | 7:04.33 | SF |
| 3 | Ronaldo de Carvalho Ricardo de Carvalho | Brazil | 7:05.24 | SF |
| 4 | John Houlding Jim Relle | Canada | 7:09.92 | |
| 5 | Robert Booth Jim Stride | Australia | 7:10.12 | |

### Semi-finals

The semi-finals were rowed on 2 August. The first three would progress to the A final, whilst the other teams would go to the B final.

#### Heat 1

The Germans and the Dutch swapped seats in their semi-final and maintained the new configuration in their finals.
| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hans Magnus Grepperud Sverre Løken | Norway | 6:53.52 | FA |
| 2 | Thomas Möllenkamp Axel Wöstmann | West Germany | 6:57.14 | FA |
| 3 | Dave De Ruff John Strotbeck Jr. | United States | 6:59.10 | FA |
| 4 | Geoff Horan Allan Horan | New Zealand | 7:02.89 | FB |
| 5 | Sjoerd Hoekstra Joost Adema | Netherlands | 7:04.61 | FB |
| 6 | Ronaldo de Carvalho Ricardo de Carvalho | Brazil | 7:05.92 | FB |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Petru Iosub Valer Toma | Romania | 6:53.23 | FA |
| 2 | Fernando Climent Luis María Lasúrtegui | Spain | 6:53.58 | FA |
| 3 | Marco Romano Pasquale Aiese | Italy | 6:58.38 | FA |
| 4 | Markus Wechsler Alfred Fischer (rower) | Switzerland | 7:05.81 | FB |
| 5 | Rubén D'Andrilli Claudio Guindón | Argentina | 7:08.35 | FB |
| 6 | John Beattie Richard Stanhope | Great Britain | 7:09.17 | FB |

### Finals
#### B final

The B final was rowed on 3 August.
| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| 7 | Sjoerd Hoekstra Joost Adema | Netherlands | 7:02.62 |
| 8 | Ronaldo de Carvalho Ricardo de Carvalho | Brazil | 7:03.97 |
| 9 | Geoff Horan Allan Horan | New Zealand | 7:04.00 |
| 10 | Rubén D'Andrilli Claudio Guindón | Argentina | 7:05.01 |
| 11 | Markus Wechsler Alfred Fischer (rower) | Switzerland | 7:07.00 |
| 12 | John Beattie Richard Stanhope | Great Britain | 7:08.07 |

#### A final

The A final was rowed on 5 August. Spain was a surprise medallist, and as of 2021, their silver medal is the only Olympic rowing medal that the nation has ever won.
| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| | Petru Iosub Valer Toma | Romania | 6:45.39 |
| | Fernando Climent Luis María Lasúrtegui | Spain | 6:48.87 |
| | Hans Magnus Grepperud Sverre Løken | Norway | 6:51.81 |
| 4 | Thomas Möllenkamp Axel Wöstmann | West Germany | 6:52.53 |
| 5 | Marco Romano Pasquale Aiese | Italy | 6:55.88 |
| 6 | Dave De Ruff John Strotbeck Jr. | United States | 6:58.46 |