Kayak Doubles, 1,000 metres, Men

Germany’s Kay Bluhm and Torsten Gutsche were the defending Olympic champions in the K-2 1000, as well as the 1993 World Champions and the 1995 runners-up. Italy’s Daniele Scarpa and Antonio Rossi, meanwhile, were the 1995 World Champions and the 1993 and 1994 runners-up. These two nations were the favorites in the event at the 1996 Summer Olympics and were joined in winning their heats in the opening round by Australia’s Grant Leury and Peter Scott. Italy won the first heat in the semi-finals, nearly eliminating Leury and Scott in the process, who survived only by being the fastest of the fifth place finishers. The Germans, meanwhile, were bested by both Dariusz Białkowski and Grzegorz Kotowicz of Poland, the 1995 World bronze medalists, and Patrick Lancereau and Pierre Lubac of France. The Italians were dominant in the medal round, winning gold by nearly a second and a half over the Germans, who settled for silver. The race for the final podium spot, meanwhile, turned into a three-way battle between Bulgarians Andrian Dushev and Milko Kazanov, Poland, and France, who finished in that order 0.196 apart. Although Bluhm and Gutsche failed to defend their crown, they would have their revenge against Scarpa in the K-2 500, where they took gold over Italy by a mere 0.032 seconds. Rossi, meanwhile, would go on to become a double Olympic champion by winning the K-1 500 the following day.