Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four
The men's coxed four competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Casitas in Ventura County, California, United States. It was held from 30 July to 5 August and the dominant nations were missing from the event due to the Eastern Bloc boycott. The teams from the United States and New Zealand were regarded as favourites, but it was Great Britain that dominated the regatta, thus winning the nation's first rowing gold since the 1948 Summer Olympics, back then in front of their home crowd at the Henley Royal Regatta course. The 1984 event started Steve Redgrave's Olympic rowing success that would eventually see him win five Olympic gold medals.
Background
East Germany was the dominating country for the men's coxed four competition; since the 1977 World Rowing Championships, they had won this competition every year but for the previous world championship in 1983, when New Zealand claimed the title, displacing East Germany to the silver medal. The second most dominating nation at the time was the Soviet Union, which had claimed five top three finishes since the 1976 Summer Olympics. Both these Eastern Bloc nations were part of the boycott in 1984, and that left New Zealand as the reigning world champion as the favourite for the event. The USA was also highly rated, having won world championship silver and bronze in 1981 and 1982, respectively, and gold at the Pan American Games in 1983.Previous M4+ competitions
Results
None of the eight teams swapped the position of their rowers during the competition., who won the first of his five Olympic gold medals at this event
Heats
The two heats in round one were rowed on 30 July. The winner of each heat advanced to the A final, while the remaining teams went to the repechage.Heat 1
Heat 2
Repechage
One heat was rowed in the repechage on 2 August. The first four teams advanced to the A final, while the remaining two teams went to the B final.| Rank | Rower | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kevin Lawton Don Symon Barrie Mabbott Ross Tong Brett Hollister | 6:26.18 | FA | |
| 2 | Thomas Kiefer Gregory Springer Michael Bach Edward Ives John Stillings | 6:27.55 | FA | |
| 3 | Heribert Karches Georg Konermann Wolfram Thiem Wolfgang Maennig Manfred Klein | 6:29.19 | FA | |
| 4 | Dave Ross Tim Christian Richard Doey Nick Toulmin Paul Tessier | 6:29.76 | FA | |
| 5 | André Berezin Luiz dos Santos Dênis Marinho Laildo Machado Manuel Mandel | 6:33.44 | FB | |
| 6 | Satoru Miyoshi Tadashi Abe Shunsuke Kawamoto Hideaki Maeguchi Akihiro Koike | 6:55.33 | FB |
Finals
B final
The B final was rowed on 3 August.| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| 7 | André Berezin Luiz dos Santos Dênis Marinho Laildo Machado Manuel Mandel | 6:47.13 | |
| 8 | Satoru Miyoshi Tadashi Abe Shunsuke Kawamoto Hideaki Maeguchi Akihiro Koike | 6:52.62 |
A final
The A final was rowed on 5 August.| Rank | Rower | Country | Time |
| Martin Cross Richard Budgett Andy Holmes Steve Redgrave Adrian Ellison | 6:18.64 | ||
| Thomas Kiefer Gregory Springer Michael Bach Edward Ives John Stillings | 6:20.28 | ||
| Kevin Lawton Don Symon Barrie Mabbott Ross Tong Brett Hollister | 6:23.68 | ||
| 4 | Giovanni Sergi Sergas Giovanni Suarez Gino Iseppi Giuseppe Carando Siro Meli | 6:26.44 | |
| 5 | Dave Ross Tim Christian Richard Doey Nick Toulmin Paul Tessier | 6:28.78 | |
| 6 | Heribert Karches Georg Konermann Wolfram Thiem Wolfgang Maennig Manfred Klein | 6:34.23 |