Canadian Doubles, 1,000 metres, Men

Alexe Dumitru of Romania was a reigning Olympic and World Champion in the C-2 1000, but his usual partner, Simion Ismailciuc, had retired temporarily and was replaced at the 1960 Summer Olympics by Igor Lipalit. Hungary was the most recent Olympic bronze medalist, World runner-up, and European champion, but sent a new crew of András Törő and Imre Farkas to Rome, the latter of whom was an Olympic bronze medalist in the C-2 10000 from 1956. The Soviet Union was the 1957 European champion and was represented at the Games by Serhiy Makarenko and Leonid Geyshtor. The Soviets were the strongest crew in the opening round, winning their heat in Olympic record time, but the Hungarians, Italians (Aldo Dezi and Francesco La Macchia), and French (Georges Turlier and Michel Picard) were all within about half a second of each other’s times. The Soviets dominated again in the final, breaking their own Olympic record and finishing nearly four seconds ahead of the runner-up Italians, who earned their first Olympic canoeing medal and their last until 1992. The Hungarians, meanwhile, settled for bronze, having missed out on silver by only 0.12 seconds, while the Romanians finished fourth and off the podium.