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

Men's double sculls was an event in Rowing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States. The event was held at Lake Lanier between July 21 and July 27, 1996.
France, Norway, and Germany had won 11 of the last 12 World Championship medals and were represented at the 1996 Summer Olympics by Frédéric Kowal and Samuel Barathay, Kjetil Undset and Steffen Størseth, and Sebastian Mayer and Roland Opfer respectively. France, represented in part by Barathay, was the 1993 World Champion and 1994 bronze medalist. Norway was the 1994 World Champion and 1993 runner-up and, with its Olympic duo, the 1995 bronze medalist, while Undset was also an Olympic silver medalist from the 1992 quadruple sculls. Germany had been runner-up at the last two editions of the World Championships and a bronze medalist in 1993. The lone exception to the dominance of these three nations was Denmark, who won the 1995 World Championships with Lars Christensen and Martin Haldbo Hansen. Australia, meanwhile, sent one of its defending Olympic champions, Peter Antonie, to Atlanta with a new partner, Jason Day. Antoine was also one half of the winning crew at the 1995 Double Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. Hungary's Zsolt Dani and Gábor Mitring were the 1994 winners of that tournament.
In the opening round, Norway posted the fastest time by nearly five seconds, while the other heats were won by Denmark and the Italian duo of Davide Tizzano and Agostino Abbagnale, both of whom were Olympic champions in the quadruple sculls from 1988. The Hungarians, meanwhile, were eliminated in the repêchage. In the semi-finals it was France who eliminated the Australians with the fastest time in the round, nearly three seconds ahead of its closest competition, while Italy won the other heat. The race in the final was closer, but Italy, Norway, and France were all ahead of the pack and crossed the finish line in that order. Denmark, the reigning World Champions, came in fourth nearly five seconds later.

## Medalists

| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Italy (ITA) Davide Tizzano Agostino Abbagnale | Norway (NOR) Kjetil Undset Steffen Størseth | France (FRA) Frédéric Kowal Samuel Barathay |

## Heats

* SA/B denotes qualification to Semifinal A/B.
* R denotes qualification to Repechage.

### Heat 1

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kjetil Undset, Steffen Størseth | Norway | 6:43.35 | SA/B |
| 2 | Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol | Poland | 6:48.13 | R |
| 3 | Peter Antonie, Jason Day | Australia | 6:50.15 | R |
| 4 | Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška | Slovakia | 6:55.87 | R |
| 5 | Lee In-su, Lee Ho | South Korea | 7:11.56 | R |

### Heat 2

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Lars Christensen, Martin Haldbo Hansen | Denmark | 6:48.75 | SA/B |
| 2 | Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer | Germany | 6:51.41 | R |
| 3 | Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx | Belgium | 6:54.80 | R |
| 4 | Erik Tul, Luka Špik | Slovenia | 7:02.48 | R |
| 5 | Melquiades Verduras, José Antonio Merín | Spain | 7:13.99 | R |

### Heat 3

James Cracknell was one of the nominated British scullers but he was suffering from tonsillitis; Guy Pooley as backup rower replaced him.
| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Davide Tizzano, Agostino Abbagnale | Italy | 6:48.22 | SA/B |
| 2 | Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds | Latvia | 6:52.80 | R |
| 3 | Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo | Croatia | 6:55.40 | R |
| 4 | Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst | Austria | 6:56.55 | R |
| 5 | Guy Pooley, Robert Thatcher | Great Britain | 7:00.74 | R |

### Heat 4

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frédéric Kowal, Samuel Barathay | France | 6:44.01 | SA/B |
| 2 | Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett | Canada | 6:48.03 | R |
| 3 | Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho | Brazil | 6:49.92 | R |
| 4 | Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring | Hungary | 6:57.63 | R |

## Repechage

* SA/B denotes qualification to Semifinal A/B.
* RR denotes qualification to Rerace

### Repechage 1

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst | Austria | 6:43.52 | SA/B |
| 2 | Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx | Belgium | 6:48.45 | SA/B |
| 3 | Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol | Poland | 6:53.21 | RR |

### Repechage 2

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer | Germany | 6:43.52 | SA/B |
| 2 | Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo | Croatia | 6:48.02 | SA/B |
| 3 | Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring | Hungary | 6:50.02 | RR |
| 4 | Lee In-su, Lee Ho | South Korea | 7:09.71 | RR |

### Repechage 3

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds | Latvia | 6:51.19 | SA/B |
| 2 | Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška | Slovakia | 6:53.54 | SA/B |
| 3 | Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho | Brazil | 6:56.93 | RR |
| 4 | Melquiades Verduras, José Antonio Merín | Spain | 6:59.57 | RR |

### Repechage 4

The British replacement rower Pooley also replaced Cracknell in the repechage.
| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett | Canada | 6:51.93 | SA/B |
| 2 | Peter Antonie, Jason Day | Australia | 6:51.98 | SA/B |
| 3 | Guy Pooley, Robert Thatcher | Great Britain | 7:00.81 | RR |
| 4 | Erik Tul, Luka Špik | Slovenia | 7:06.06 | RR |

## Rerace

* FC denotes qualification to Final C
* E denotes eliminated from competition

### Rerace 1

The British rower Cracknell had by now recovered from his tonsillitis and took over from the replacement rower Pooley.
| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring | Hungary | 6:47.77 | C |
| 2 | James Cracknell, Robert Thatcher | Great Britain | 6:51.22 | C |
| 3 | Melquiades Verduras, José Antonio Merín | Spain | 6:55.00 | E |

### Rerace 2

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol | Poland | 6:48.53 | C |
| 2 | Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho | Brazil | 6:52.73 | C |
| 3 | Erik Tul, Luka Špik | Slovenia | 6:56.43 | C |
| 4 | Lee In-su, Lee Ho | South Korea | 7:05.08 | E |

## Semi-finals

* F/A denotes qualification to Final A.
* F/B denotes qualification to Final B.

### Semi-final 1

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Davide Tizzano, Agostino Abbagnale | Italy | 6:37.39 | F/A |
| 2 | Kjetil Undset, Steffen Størseth | Norway | 6:40.15 | F/A |
| 3 | Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer | Germany | 6:42.57 | F/A |
| 4 | Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett | Canada | 6:46.35 | F/B |
| 5 | Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx | Belgium | 6:48.13 | F/B |
| 6 | Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška | Slovakia | 6:55.73 | F/B |

### Semi-final 2

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frédéric Kowal, Samuel Barathay | France | 6:32.86 | F/A |
| 2 | Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst | Austria | 6:35.76 | F/A |
| 3 | Lars Christensen, Martin Haldbo Hansen | Denmark | 6:37.10 | F/A |
| 4 | Peter Antonie, Jason Day | Australia | 6:39.49 | F/B |
| 5 | Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds | Latvia | 6:40.68 | F/B |
| 6 | Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo | Croatia | 7:03.53 | F/B |

## Finals
### Final C

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time |
| 1 | Kajetan Broniewski, Adam Korol | Poland | 6:40.62 |
| 2 | Erik Tul, Luka Špik | Slovenia | 6:43.55 |
| 3 | Marcelus dos Santos, Dirceu Marinho | Brazil | 6:47.12 |
| 4 | Zsolt Dani, Gábor Mitring | Hungary | 6:50.90 |
| 5 | James Cracknell, Robert Thatcher | Great Britain | 6:51.41 |

### Final B

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time |
| 1 | Michael Forgeron, Todd Hallett | Canada | 6:18.37 |
| 2 | Peter Antonie, Jason Day | Australia | 6:19.25 |
| 3 | Uģis Lasmanis, Andris Reinholds | Latvia | 6:20.82 |
| 4 | Tom Symoens, Björn Hendrickx | Belgium | 6:21.89 |
| 5 | Ondrej Hambálek, Ján Žiška | Slovakia | 6:26.51 |
| 6 | Hrvoje Telišman, Danijel Bajlo | Croatia | 6:26.84 |

### Final A

| Rank | Rowers | Country | Time |
| 1 | Davide Tizzano, Agostino Abbagnale | Italy | 6:16.68 |
| 2 | Kjetil Undset, Steffen Størseth | Norway | 6:18.42 |
| 3 | Frédéric Kowal, Samuel Barathay | France | 6:19.85 |
| 4 | Lars Christensen, Martin Haldbo Hansen | Denmark | 6:24.77 |
| 5 | Arnold Jonke, Christoph Zerbst | Austria | 6:25.17 |
| 6 | Sebastian Mayer, Roland Opfer | Germany | 6:29.32 |