Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four
The men's coxed four competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Han River Regatta Course, South Korea.
Competition format
The competition consisted of three main rounds as well as a repechage. The 14 boats were divided into three heats for the first round, with 4 or 5 boats in each heat. The top three boats in each heat advanced directly to the semifinals. The remaining 5 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured a single heat, with the top three boats advancing to the semifinals and the remaining 2 boats being eliminated. The 12 semifinalist boats were divided into two heats of 6 boats each. The top three boats in each semifinal advanced to the "A" final to compete for medals and 4th through 6th place; the bottom three boats in each semifinal were sent to the "B" final for 7th through 12th.All races were over a 2000 metre course.
Results
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hendrik Reiher | 6:00.75 | |||
| 2 | Martin Ruppel | 6:02.98 | |||
| 3 | Andrew Bird | 6:03.35 | |||
| 4 | Dino Lucchetta | 6:06.09 | |||
| 5 | Vaughan Thomas | 6:20.89 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Mark Zembsch | 6:08.36 | |||
| 2 | Oldřich Hejdušek | 6:11.25 | |||
| 3 | Dario Varga | 6:12.33 | |||
| 4 | Javier Viñolas | 6:14.69 | |||
| 5 | Terry Paul | 6:15.21 |
Heat 3
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ladislau Lovrenschi | 6:10.26 | |||
| 2 | Sergey Titov | 6:16.53 | |||
| 3 | Martin Honegger | 6:27.52 | |||
| 4 | Park Seong-nae | 6:57.99 |
Repechage
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vaughan Thomas | 6:31.11 | |||
| 2 | Dino Lucchetta | 6:32.14 | |||
| 3 | Terry Paul | 6:33.05 | |||
| 4 | Javier Viñolas | 6:34.36 | |||
| 5 | Park Seong-nae | 7:19.22 |
Semifinals
Semifinal 1
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Hendrik Reiher | 6:07.91 | |||
| 2 | Ladislau Lovrenschi | 6:09.86 | |||
| 3 | Andrew Bird | 6:10.41 | |||
| 4 | Dino Lucchetta | 6:15.93 | |||
| 5 | Oldřich Hejdušek | 6:20.42 | |||
| 6 | Martin Honegger | 7:55.92 |
Semifinal 2
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Vaughan Thomas | 6:15.22 | |||
| 2 | Mark Zembsch | 6:15.30 | |||
| 3 | Dario Varga | 6:15.72 | |||
| 4 | Martin Ruppel | 6:15.87 | |||
| 5 | Sergey Titov | 6:16.69 | |||
| 6 | Terry Paul | 6:17.36 |
Finals
Final B
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| 7 | Martin Ruppel | 6:42.65 | ||
| 8 | Oldřich Hejdušek | 6:43.64 | ||
| 9 | Terry Paul | 6:44.95 | ||
| 10 | Dino Lucchetta | 6:45.39 | ||
| Martin Honegger | ||||
| Sergey Titov |
Final A
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| Hendrik Reiher | 6:10.74 | |||
| Ladislau Lovrenschi | 6:13.58 | |||
| Andrew Bird | 6:15.78 | |||
| 4 | Vaughan Thomas | 6:18.08 | ||
| 5 | Mark Zembsch | 6:18.47 | ||
| 6 | Dario Varga | 6:23.28 |
Final classification
| Rank | Rowers | Country |
| Bernd Niesecke Hendrik Reiher Karsten Schmeling Bernd Eichwurzel Frank Klawonn | ||
| Dimitrie Popescu Ioan Snep Vasile Tomoiagă Ladislau Lovrenschi Valentin Robu | ||
| Chris White Ian Wright Andrew Bird Greg Johnston George Keys | ||
| 4 | Adam Clift John Maxey John Garrett Martin Cross Vaughan Thomas | |
| 5 | John Terwilliger Chris Huntington Tom Darling John Walters Mark Zembsch | |
| 6 | Sead Marušić Lazo Pivač Zlatko Celent Vladimir Banjanac Dario Varga | |
| 7 | Roland Baar Wolfgang Klapheck Christoph Korte Andreas Lütkefels Martin Ruppel | |
| 8 | Milan Doleček Oldřich Hejdušek Petr Hlídek Dušan Macháček Michal Šubrt | |
| 9 | Harold Backer John Houlding Robert Marland Terry Paul Brian Saunderson | |
| 10 | Giuseppe Carando Leonardo Massa Antonio Maurogiovanni Giovanni Miccoli Dino Lucchetta | |
| 11 | Martin Honegger Marcel Hotz Bruno Saile Günter Schneider Jörg Weitnauer | |
| 11 | Sigitas Kučinskas Jonas Narmontas Vladimir Romanishin Sergey Titov Igor Zotov | |
| 13 | Agustín Alarcón Baltasar Márquez José Ramón Oyarzábal Ibon Urbieta Javier Viñolas | |
| 14 | Jeong Jae-won Gang Man-gu Lee Tae-hwa Park Seong-nae Yang Gwang-jae |