Coxless Pairs, Women

With the exception of the first, East Germany had won the coxless pairs event at every edition of the World Championships since its inception, and the nation’s absence due to the Soviet-led boycott allowed the Romanian duo of Rodica Arba and Elena Oprea to enter the 1984 Summer Olympics as the favorites in the event. As in 1980, only six nations entered a crew, but this time only a final was held, which the Romanians won by a margin of nearly three and a half seconds over Canadians Betty Craig and Tricia Smith, runners-up at the 1981 World Championships and bronze medalists at the 1982 and 1983 edition (Craig also had bronze and silver from the 1977 and 1978 editions respectively, but these had been earned with Susan Antoft). Bronze was taken by Ellen Becker and Iris Völkner of West Germany, a nation that had never won a World Championship medal in this event.