Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's eight
The women's eight competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Han River Regatta Course, South Korea.
Competition format
The competition consisted of two main rounds as well as a repechage. The 7 boats were divided into two heats for the first round, with 4 boats in one heat and 3 boats in the other. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the final. The remaining 5 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured a single heat. The top four boats advanced to the final; only the last-place boat in the repechage was eliminated.All races were over a 2000 metre course, unlike previous Games in which women used a 1000 metre course.
Results
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ecaterina Oancia | 6:15.65 | |||
| 2 | Daniela Neunast | 6:16.29 | |||
| 3 | Kerstin Peters | 6:38.31 | |||
| 4 | Greta Georgieva | 6:47.99 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Aušra Gudeliūnaitė | 6:20.90 | |||
| 2 | Li Ronghua | 6:23.33 | |||
| 3 | Betsy Beard | 6:24.55 |
Repechage
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Daniela Neunast | 6:05.50 | |||
| 2 | Greta Georgieva | 6:08.26 | |||
| 3 | Li Ronghua | 6:08.64 | |||
| 4 | Betsy Beard | 6:10.82 | |||
| 5 | Kerstin Peters | 6:12.70 |
Final
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| Daniela Neunast | 6:15.17 | |||
| Ecaterina Oancia | 6:17.44 | |||
| Li Ronghua | 6:21.83 | |||
| 4 | Aušra Gudeliūnaitė | 6:22.35 | ||
| 5 | Greta Georgieva | 6:25.02 | ||
| 6 | Betsy Beard | 6:26.66 |
Final classification
| Rank | Rowers | Nation |
| Annegret Strauch Judith Zeidler Kathrin Haacker Ute Wild Anja Kluge Beatrix Schröer Ramona Balthasar Ute Stange Daniela Neunast | ||
| Doina Șnep-Bălan Veronica Necula Herta Anitaș Marioara Trașcă Adriana Bazon Mihaela Armășescu Rodica Arba Olga Homeghi Ecaterina Oancia | ||
| Zhou Xiuhua Zhang Yali He Yanwen Han Yaqin Zhang Xianghua Zhou Shouying Yang Xiao Hu Yadong Li Ronghua | ||
| 4 | Margarita Teselko Marina Znak Nadezhda Sugako Sandra Brazauskaitė Olena Pukhaieva Sariya Zakyrova Nataliya Fedorenko Lidiya Averyanova Aušra Gudeliūnaitė | |
| 5 | Teodora Zareva Violeta Zareva Nevyana Ivanova Olya Stoichkova Todorka Vasileva Rita Todorova Mariana Stoyanova Daniela Oronova Greta Georgieva | |
| 6 | Juliet Thompson Christine Campbell Abby Peck Peg Mallery Susan Broome Stephanie Maxwell-Pierson Anna Seaton Alison Townley Betsy Beard | |
| 7 | Inge Althoff-Schwerzmann Meike Holländer Elke Markwort Gabriele Mehl Kerstin Peters Cerstin Petersmann Katrin Petersmann Kerstin Rehders Anja Schäfer |