Canadian Doubles, 1,000 metres, Men

Romania was the reigning World Champion in the C-2 1000 and sent one of its victors, Serghei Covaliov to the 1968 Summer Olympics to compete in the event alongside Ivan Patzaichin. The nation was, with a different crew, also the runner-up at the most recent European Championships, an event that was won by Hungary’s Tamás Wichmann and Gyula Petrikovics. The defending Olympic, and 1965 European, champion was the Soviet Union, represented in Mexico City by Naum Prokupets and Mikhail Zamotin, the latter of whom was a 1963 World and 1965 European runner-up. The only other recent medalist from a major international tournament at the Games was Sweden, who sent its 1966 World runners-up Bernt Lindelöf and Eric Zeidlitz. Sweden and the Soviet Union squared off the first opening heat, with the latter emerging victorious, while Romania and Hungary battled in the second, with the former finishing in Olympic record time. The Romanians continued their dominance in the medal round, winning gold with ease, although their margin of victory, nearly 1.6 seconds, was the smallest of all the podium finishers. Hungary took silver over two and a half seconds prior to the arrival of the Soviet Union, who were in turn nearly four seconds faster than Mexico in capturing bronze.