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.

Men's coxless four at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Date	13–19 October
Competitors	45 from 11 nations
Medalists
Frank Forberger Frank Rühle Dieter Grahn Dieter Schubert  East Germany Zoltán Melis József Csermely György Sarlós Antal Melis  Hungary Renato Bosatta Pier Conti-Manzini Tullio Baraglia Abramo Albini  Italy

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 Forberger Frank Rühle Dieter Grahn Dieter Schubert	East Germany	6:54.62	Q
2	Pete Raymond Raymond Wright Charles Hamlin Lawrence Terry	United States	6:57.68	R
3	Vitolds Barkāns Elmārs Rubīns Pavel Ilyinsky Guntis Niedra	Soviet Union	7:08.82	R
4	Thomas Hitzbleck Manfred Weinreich Volkhart Buchter Jochen Heck	West Germany	7:14.44	R
5	Roland Altenburger Nicolas Gobet Franz Rentsch Alfred Meister	Switzerland	7:14.74	R
6	Pavel Cichi Dumitru Ivanov Emanoil Stratan Anton Chirlacopschi	Romania	7:21.84	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rowers	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Zoltán Melis József Csermely György Sarlós Antal Melis	Hungary	6:44.72	Q
2	Renato Bosatta Pier Conti-Manzini Tullio Baraglia Abramo Albini	Italy	6:53.11	R
3	Gunner Nielsen John Erik Jensen Johnny Algreen Petersen Mogens Pedersen	Denmark	6:58.02	R
4	Patrick Sellier Michel Beissière Yannick Fave Patrick van den Brouck	France	7:00.05	R
5	Roberto Retolaza Arcadio Padilla Jesús Toscano David Trejo	Mexico	7:15.18	R

Repechage

Repechage heat 1

Rank	Rowers	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Renato Bosatta Pier Conti-Manzini Tullio Baraglia Abramo Albini	Italy	6:31.98	Q
2	Thomas Hitzbleck Manfred Weinreich Volkhart Buchter Jochen Heck	West Germany	6:32.56	Q
3	Vitolds Barkāns Elmārs Rubīns Pavel Ilyinsky Guntis Niedra	Soviet Union	6:33.35	C
4	Roberto Retolaza Arcadio Padilla Jesús Toscano David Trejo	Mexico	7:02.92	C

Repechage heat 2

Rank	Rowers	Nation	Time	Notes
1	Pete Raymond Raymond Wright Charles Hamlin Lawrence Terry	United States	6:39.78	Q
2	Roland Altenburger Nicolas Gobet Franz Rentsch Alfred Meister	Switzerland	6:40.75	Q
3	Patrick Sellier Yvon Petit Michel Beissière Yannick Fave	France	6:44.06	C
4	Pavel Cichi Dumitru Ivanov Emanoil Stratan Anton Chirlacopschi	Romania	6:44.71	C
5	Gunner Nielsen John Erik Jensen Johnny Algreen Petersen Mogens Pedersen	Denmark	ST	C

Finals

Classification 7–11

Rank	Rowers	Nation	Time
7	Pavel Cichi Dumitru Ivanov Emanoil Stratan Anton Chirlacopschi	Romania	6:50.13
8	Roberto Retolaza Arcadio Padilla Jesús Toscano David Trejo	Mexico	6:53.21
9	Patrick Sellier Yvon Petit Michel Beissière Yannick Fave	France	6:53.71
10	Gunner Nielsen John Erik Jensen Johnny Algreen Petersen Mogens Pedersen	Denmark	7:20.31
11	Vitolds Barkāns Elmārs Rubīns Pavel Ilyinsky Guntis Niedra	Soviet Union	DNS

Final

Rank	Rowers	Nation	Time
	Frank Forberger Frank Rühle Dieter Grahn Dieter Schubert	East Germany	6:39.18
	Zoltán Melis József Csermely György Sarlós Antal Melis	Hungary	6:41.64
	Renato Bosatta Pier Conti-Manzini Tullio Baraglia Abramo Albini	Italy	6:44.01
4	Roland Altenburger Nicolas Gobet Franz Rentsch Alfred Meister	Switzerland	6:45.78
5	Pete Raymond Raymond Wright Charles Hamlin Lawrence Terry	United States	6:47.70
6	Thomas Hitzbleck Manfred Weinreich Volkhart Buchter Jochen Heck	West Germany	7:08.22