# Swimming at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay

The men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay event at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place between 20–21 September at the Jamsil Indoor Swimming Pool in Seoul, South Korea.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | West Germany (FRG) Peter Sitt (1:48.94) Rainer Henkel (1:48.71) Thomas Fahrner (1:48.64) Michael Gross (1:46.81) | 7:13.10 | Strasbourg, France | 19 August 1987 |
| Olympic record | United States (USA) Mike Heath (1:48.67) David Larson (1:49.01) Jeff Float (1:49.60) Bruce Hayes (1:48.41) | 7:15.69 | Los Angeles, United States | 30 July 1984 |
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
| 21 September | Final | Troy Dalbey (1:49.37) Matt Cetlinski (1:48.44) Doug Gjertsen (1:48.26) Matt Biondi (1:46.44) | United States | 7:12.51 | WR |

## Results
### Heats

Rule: The eight fastest teams advance to the final (Q).
| Rank | Heat | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | East Germany | Uwe Daßler (1:49.47) Lars Hinneburg (1:49.64) Sven Lodziewski (1:48.87) Thomas Flemming (1:48.63) | 7:16.61 | Q |
| 2 | 1 | United States | Craig Oppel (1:51.24) Dan Jorgensen (1:49.24) Matt Cetlinski (1:48.87) Doug Gjertsen (1:49.41) | 7:18.76 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | West Germany | Peter Sitt (1:50.31) Rainer Henkel (1:49.63) Stefan Pfeiffer (1:50.06) Erik Hochstein (1:49.38) | 7:19.38 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | Australia | Jason Plummer (1:51.44) Ian Brown (1:48.89) Martin Roberts (1:51.31) Tom Stachewicz (1:49.82) | 7:21.46 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | Italy | Massimo Trevisan (1:50.95) Fabrizio Rampazzo (1:51.47) Valerio Giambalvo (1:50.97) Roberto Gleria (1:48.46) | 7:21.85 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | France | Stéphan Caron (1:49.41) Michel Pou (1:51.01) Olivier Fougeroud (1:51.62) Laurent Neuville (1:50.99) | 7:23.03 | Q |
| 7 | 2 | Sweden | Tommy Werner (1:50.46) Christer Wallin (1:50.38) Henrik Jangvall (1:52.33) Michael Söderlund (1:50.65) | 7:23.82 | Q |
| 8 | 2 | Canada | Turlough O'Hare (1:51.59) Darren Ward (1:52.27) Donald Haddow (1:51.11) Gary Vandermeulen (1:51.31) | 7:26.28 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | Great Britain | Kevin Boyd (1:52.00) Paul Howe (1:51.58) Jonathan Broughton (1:52.81) Roland Lee (1:53.38) | 7:29.77 | |
| 10 | 2 | Brazil | Cristiano Michelena (1:51.38) Jorge Fernandes (1:53.34) Emanuel Nascimento (1:54.26) Júlio López (1:53.13) | 7:32.11 | |
| 11 | 1 | Denmark | Franz Mortensen (1:51.21) Claus Christensen (1:52.08) Jan Larsen (1:52.61) Peter Rohde (1:57.41) | 7:33.31 | |
| 12 | 1 | South Korea | Kwon Sang-won (1:57.08) Yang Wook (1:57.29) Song Kwang-sun (1:59.11) Kwon Soon-kun (1:59.45) | 7:52.93 | |
| 13 | 1 | Virgin Islands | Hans Foerster (2:01.34) Kraig Singleton (2:05.63) Ronald Pickard (2:07.66) William Cleveland (2:00.88) | 8:15.51 | |
| 14 | 2 | United Arab Emirates | Ahmad Faraj (2:15.64) Mohamed Abdullah (2:17.64) Bassam Al-Ansari (2:15.41) Mohamed Bin Abid (2:12.34) | 9:01.03 | |
| | 2 | Mexico | Ignacio Escamilla Jorge Alarcón Carlos Romo Rodrigo González | DSQ | |
| | 2 | Soviet Union | Sergey Kudryayev Aleksandr Bazhanov Nikolay Yevseyev Aleksey Kuznetsov | DSQ | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Nation | Swimmers | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | United States | Troy Dalbey (1:49.37) Matt Cetlinski (1:48.44) Doug Gjertsen (1:48.26) Matt Biondi (1:46.44) | 7:12.51 | WR |
| | 4 | East Germany | Uwe Daßler (1:48.26) Sven Lodziewski (1:48.92) Thomas Flemming (1:48.07) Steffen Zesner (1:48.43) | 7:13.68 | NR |
| | 3 | West Germany | Erik Hochstein (1:49.91) Thomas Fahrner (1:47.75) Rainer Henkel (1:49.42) Michael Gross (1:47.27) | 7:14.35 | |
| 4 | 6 | Australia | Tom Stachewicz (1:48.99) Ian Brown (1:49.05) Jason Plummer (1:49.95) Duncan Armstrong (1:47.24) | 7:15.23 | OC |
| 5 | 2 | Italy | Roberto Gleria (1:49.23) Giorgio Lamberti (1:47.29) Massimo Trevisan (1:49.66) Valerio Giambalvo (1:49.82) | 7:16.00 | NR |
| 6 | 1 | Sweden | Anders Holmertz (1:48.06) Tommy Werner (1:49.41) Michael Söderlund (1:50.57) Christer Wallin (1:51.06) | 7:19.10 | |
| 7 | 7 | France | Michel Pou (1:52.05) Franck Iacono (1:50.04) Olivier Fougeroud (1:52.14) Ludovic Depickère (1:50.46) | 7:24.69 | |
| 8 | 8 | Canada | Turlough O'Hare (1:51.45) Sandy Goss (1:51.01) Donald Haddow (1:51.46) Gary Vandermeulen (1:50.99) | 7:24.91 | |