Six of the 18 competitors from the 1960 coxed pair final returned: Igor Rudakov, the coxswain from the silver medal Soviet Union team; Conn Findlay and Kent Mitchell, rower and coxswain from the bronze medal United States team (Findlay had also won gold in 1956); Jens Berendt Jensen and Knud Nielsen, rowers from the fourth-place Denmark team; and Gheorghe Riffelt, a rower from the sixth-place Romania team.
A total of six competitors from the 1960 coxed pair final event reappeared: Igor Rudakov, the coxswain from the Soviet Union's silver medal-winning crew; Conn Findlay and Kent Mitchell, the American rowers and coxswains who took bronze in 1956; Jens Berendt Jensen and Knud Nielsen, Danish rowers who finished fourth; and Gheorghe Riffelt, a Romanian rower who placed sixth.