# Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

The men's coxed four (M4+) competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Casitas in Ventura County, California, United States. There were 8 boats (40 competitors) from 8 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event. It was held from 30 July to 5 August and the dominant nations were missing from the event due to the Eastern Bloc boycott. Great Britain dominated the regatta, 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. It was Great Britain's first victory in the men's coxed four and first medal of any colour in the event since 1912. The other medaling nations had also not been to the podium in the coxed four recently; the United States took silver, that nation's first medal in the event since 1952, while New Zealand's bronze was its first medal since 1968.

## Background

This was the 17th appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The coxed four was one of the four initial events introduced in 1900. It was not held in 1904 or 1908, but was held at every Games from 1912 to 1992 when it (along with the men's coxed pair) was replaced with the men's lightweight double sculls and men's lightweight coxless four.
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 at the most recent world championship in 1983, 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.
For the second consecutive Games (and fifth time in the last eight), no nations made their debut in the event. The United States made its 14th appearance, most of any nation to that point.

### Previous M4+ competitions

| Competition | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1976 Summer Olympics | Soviet Union | East Germany | West Germany |
| 1977 World Rowing Championships | East Germany | West Germany | Bulgaria |
| 1978 World Rowing Championships | East Germany | West Germany | Bulgaria |
| 1979 World Rowing Championships | East Germany | Soviet Union | West Germany |
| 1980 Summer Olympics | East Germany | Soviet Union | Poland |
| 1981 World Rowing Championships | East Germany | United States | Soviet Union |
| 1982 World Rowing Championships | East Germany | Czechoslovakia | United States |
| 1983 World Rowing Championships | New Zealand | East Germany | Soviet Union |

## Competition format

The coxed four event featured five-person boats, with four rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). The competition used the 2000 metres distance that became standard at the 1912 Olympics and which has been used ever since except at the 1948 Games.
With a small field again, the competition continued to use the three-round format from 1980.
* Semifinals: Two heats of 4 boats each. The top boat in each heat (2 total) advanced directly to Final A. The remaining boats (6 total) went to the repechage.
* Repechage: One heat of 6 boats. The top four boats rejoined the semifinal winners in Final A. The other boats (2 total) went to Final B.
* Final: Two finals. Final A consisted of the top 6 boats. Final B placed boats 7 and 8.

## Schedule

All times are Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
| Date | Round |
| Monday, 30 July 1984 | Semifinals |
| Thursday, 2 August 1984 | Repechage |
| Friday, 3 August 1984 | Final B |
| Sunday, 5 August 1984 | Final A |

## Results

None of the eight teams swapped the position of their rowers during the competition.

### Semifinals

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.

#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Giovanni Sergi SergasGiovanni SuarezGino IseppiGiuseppe Carando | Siro Meli (cox) | Italy | 6:23.04 | QA |
| 2 | Heribert KarchesGeorg KonermannWolfram ThiemWolfgang Maennig | Manfred Klein (cox) | West Germany | 6:28.29 | R |
| 3 | Dave RossTim ChristianRichard DoeyNick Toulmin | Paul Tessier (cox) | Canada | 6:29.19 | R |
| 4 | André BerezinLuiz dos SantosDênis MarinhoLaildo Machado | Manuel Mandel (cox) | Brazil | 6:39.88 | R |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Martin CrossRichard BudgettAndy HolmesSteve Redgrave | Adrian Ellison (cox) | Great Britain | 6:18.79 | QA |
| 2 | Thomas KieferGregory SpringerMichael BachEdward Ives | John Stillings (cox) | United States | 6:21.94 | R |
| 3 | Kevin LawtonDon SymonBarrie MabbottRoss Tong | Brett Hollister (cox) | New Zealand | 6:27.18 | R |
| 4 | Satoru MiyoshiTadashi AbeShunsuke KawamotoHideaki Maeguchi | Akihiro Koike (cox) | Japan | 6:54.51 | R |

### 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 | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kevin LawtonDon SymonBarrie MabbottRoss Tong | Brett Hollister (cox) | New Zealand | 6:26.18 | QA |
| 2 | Thomas KieferGregory SpringerMichael BachEdward Ives | John Stillings (cox) | United States | 6:27.55 | QA |
| 3 | Heribert KarchesGeorg KonermannWolfram ThiemWolfgang Maennig | Manfred Klein (cox) | West Germany | 6:29.19 | QA |
| 4 | Dave RossTim ChristianRichard DoeyNick Toulmin | Paul Tessier (cox) | Canada | 6:29.76 | QA |
| 5 | André BerezinLuiz dos SantosDênis MarinhoLaildo Machado | Manuel Mandel (cox) | Brazil | 6:33.44 | QB |
| 6 | Satoru MiyoshiTadashi AbeShunsuke KawamotoHideaki Maeguchi | Akihiro Koike (cox) | Japan | 6:55.33 | QB |

### Finals
#### Final B

The B final was rowed on 3 August.
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| 7 | André BerezinLuiz dos SantosDênis MarinhoLaildo Machado | Manuel Mandel (cox) | Brazil | 6:47.13 |
| 8 | Satoru MiyoshiTadashi AbeShunsuke KawamotoHideaki Maeguchi | Akihiro Koike (cox) | Japan | 6:52.62 |

#### Final A

The A final was rowed on 5 August.
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| | Martin CrossRichard BudgettAndy HolmesSteve Redgrave | Adrian Ellison (cox) | Great Britain | 6:18.64 |
| | Thomas KieferGregory SpringerMichael BachEdward Ives | John Stillings (cox) | United States | 6:20.28 |
| | Kevin LawtonDon SymonBarrie MabbottRoss Tong | Brett Hollister (cox) | New Zealand | 6:23.68 |
| 4 | Giovanni Sergi SergasGiovanni SuarezGino IseppiGiuseppe Carando | Siro Meli (cox) | Italy | 6:26.44 |
| 5 | Dave RossTim ChristianRichard DoeyNick Toulmin | Paul Tessier (cox) | Canada | 6:28.78 |
| 6 | Heribert KarchesGeorg KonermannWolfram ThiemWolfgang Maennig | Manfred Klein (cox) | West Germany | 6:34.23 |

## Footnotes

* ↑ The official Olympic report states that 9 teams with 45 competitors participated, but then lists 8 teams in total