# Rowing at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's coxless four

The men's coxless four competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics took place at Virgilio Uribe Rowing and Canoeing Course, Mexico.

## Competition format

This rowing competition consisted of two main rounds (heats and finals), as well as a repechage round that allowed teams that did not win their heats to advance to the final. All races were 2,000 metres in distance.
* Heats: Two heats. With 11 boats entered, there were five or six boats per heat. The top boat in each heat (total of 2 boats) advanced directly to the final; all other boats (9 boats) went to the repechage.
* Repechage: Two heats. There were four or five boats in each heat. The top two boats in each heat (total of 4 boats) advanced to the final. The remaining boats (5 boats) were sent to a 7th–11th place classification race.
* Finals: A main final and a 7th–12th place classification race.

## Results
### Heats
#### Heat 1

| Rank | Rowers | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Frank ForbergerFrank RühleDieter GrahnDieter Schubert | East Germany | 6:54.62 | Q |
| 2 | Pete RaymondRaymond WrightCharles HamlinLawrence Terry | United States | 6:57.68 | R |
| 3 | Vitolds BarkānsElmārs RubīnsPavel IlyinskyGuntis Niedra | Soviet Union | 7:08.82 | R |
| 4 | Thomas HitzbleckManfred WeinreichVolkhart BuchterJochen Heck | West Germany | 7:14.44 | R |
| 5 | Roland AltenburgerNicolas GobetFranz RentschAlfred Meister | Switzerland | 7:14.74 | R |
| 6 | Pavel CichiDumitru IvanovEmanoil StratanAnton Chirlacopschi | Romania | 7:21.84 | R |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Rowers | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Zoltán MelisJózsef CsermelyGyörgy SarlósAntal Melis | Hungary | 6:44.72 | Q |
| 2 | Renato BosattaPier Conti-ManziniTullio BaragliaAbramo Albini | Italy | 6:53.11 | R |
| 3 | Gunner NielsenJohn Erik JensenJohnny Algreen PetersenMogens Pedersen | Denmark | 6:58.02 | R |
| 4 | Patrick SellierMichel BeissièreYannick FavePatrick van den Brouck | France | 7:00.05 | R |
| 5 | Roberto RetolazaArcadio PadillaJesús ToscanoDavid Trejo | Mexico | 7:15.18 | R |

### Repechage
#### Repechage heat 1

| Rank | Rowers | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Renato BosattaPier Conti-ManziniTullio BaragliaAbramo Albini | Italy | 6:31.98 | Q |
| 2 | Thomas HitzbleckManfred WeinreichVolkhart BuchterJochen Heck | West Germany | 6:32.56 | Q |
| 3 | Vitolds BarkānsElmārs RubīnsPavel IlyinskyGuntis Niedra | Soviet Union | 6:33.35 | C |
| 4 | Roberto RetolazaArcadio PadillaJesús ToscanoDavid Trejo | Mexico | 7:02.92 | C |

#### Repechage heat 2

| Rank | Rowers | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Pete RaymondRaymond WrightCharles HamlinLawrence Terry | United States | 6:39.78 | Q |
| 2 | Roland AltenburgerNicolas GobetFranz RentschAlfred Meister | Switzerland | 6:40.75 | Q |
| 3 | Patrick SellierYvon PetitMichel BeissièreYannick Fave | France | 6:44.06 | C |
| 4 | Pavel CichiDumitru IvanovEmanoil StratanAnton Chirlacopschi | Romania | 6:44.71 | C |
| 5 | Gunner NielsenJohn Erik JensenJohnny Algreen PetersenMogens Pedersen | Denmark | ST | C |

### Finals
#### Classification 7–11

| Rank | Rowers | Nation | Time |
| 7 | Pavel CichiDumitru IvanovEmanoil StratanAnton Chirlacopschi | Romania | 6:50.13 |
| 8 | Roberto RetolazaArcadio PadillaJesús ToscanoDavid Trejo | Mexico | 6:53.21 |
| 9 | Patrick SellierYvon PetitMichel BeissièreYannick Fave | France | 6:53.71 |
| 10 | Gunner NielsenJohn Erik JensenJohnny Algreen PetersenMogens Pedersen | Denmark | 7:20.31 |
| 11 | Vitolds BarkānsElmārs RubīnsPavel IlyinskyGuntis Niedra | Soviet Union | DNS |

#### Final

| Rank | Rowers | Nation | Time |
| | Frank ForbergerFrank RühleDieter GrahnDieter Schubert | East Germany | 6:39.18 |
| | Zoltán MelisJózsef CsermelyGyörgy SarlósAntal Melis | Hungary | 6:41.64 |
| | Renato BosattaPier Conti-ManziniTullio BaragliaAbramo Albini | Italy | 6:44.01 |
| 4 | Roland AltenburgerNicolas GobetFranz RentschAlfred Meister | Switzerland | 6:45.78 |
| 5 | Pete RaymondRaymond WrightCharles HamlinLawrence Terry | United States | 6:47.70 |
| 6 | Thomas HitzbleckManfred WeinreichVolkhart BuchterJochen Heck | West Germany | 7:08.22 |