Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

The men's coxed four competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at Misari Regatta, South Korea.[1] It was held from 19 to 24 September.[2] There were 14 boats (71 competitors, with Romania making one substitution) from 14 nations, with each nation limited to a single boat in the event.[2] The event was won by East Germany, returning to the top of the podium after the Soviet-led boycott in 1984 prevented the East Germans from defending their 1980 Olympic title. Silver went to Romania, its first medal in the men's coxed four. New Zealand took a second consecutive bronze medal in the event.

Men's coxed four
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
The final
VenueMisari Regatta
Date19–24 September
Competitors71 from 14 nations
Winning time6:10.74
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  East Germany
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Romania
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  New Zealand
← 1984
1992 →

Background

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This was the 18th 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.[2]

East Germany was dominant in the men's coxed four, winning 7 of the last 9 World Championships (and placing second and third in the other two) as well as winning the 1980 Olympics; a boycott was seemingly the only way to keep the East Germans off the podium, as had happened at the 1984 Games. With their return to Olympic competition in 1988, they were heavily favoured. Great Britain, the defending Olympic champion from a reduced field, was a potential challenger. The Soviet Union, New Zealand, Italy, and the United States had medaled at the last two World Championships and were also outside contenders.[2]

South Korea made its debut in the event, the first nation to do so since 1976. The United States made its 15th appearance, most of any nation to that point.

Competition format

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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.[3]

The competition consisted of three main rounds (quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals) as well as a repechage. The 14 boats were divided into three heats for the quarterfinals, with 4 or 5 boats in each heat. The top three boats in each heat (9 boats total) advanced directly to the semifinals. The remaining 5 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured a single heat, with the top three boats advancing to the semifinals and the remaining 2 boats (4th and 5th placers in the repechage) being eliminated (13th and 14th place overall). The 12 semifinalist boats were divided into two heats of 6 boats each. The top three boats in each semifinal (6 boats total) advanced to the "A" final to compete for medals and 4th through 6th place; the bottom three boats in each semifinal were sent to the "B" final for 7th through 12th.[4]

Schedule

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All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Monday, 19 September 1988 10:25 Quarterfinals
Wednesday, 21 September 1988 10:20 Repechage
Thursday, 22 September 1988 15:00 Semifinals
Friday, 23 September 1988 9:42 Final B
Saturday, 24 September 1988 10:50 Final A

Results

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Quarterfinals

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Quarterfinal 1

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Hendrik Reiher   East Germany 6:00.75 Q
2 Martin Ruppel   West Germany 6:02.98 Q
3 Andrew Bird   New Zealand 6:03.35 Q
4 Dino Lucchetta   Italy 6:06.09 R
5 Vaughan Thomas   Great Britain 6:20.89 R

Quarterfinal 2

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Mark Zembsch   United States 6:08.36 Q
2 Oldřich Hejdušek   Czechoslovakia 6:11.25 Q
3 Dario Varga   Yugoslavia 6:12.33 Q
4 Javier Viñolas   Spain 6:14.69 R
5 Terry Paul   Canada 6:15.21 R

Quarterfinal 3

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Marin Gheorghe   Romania 6:10.26 Q
2 Sergey Titov   Soviet Union 6:16.53 Q
3 Martin Honegger   Switzerland 6:27.52 Q
4 Park Seong-nae   South Korea 6:57.99 R

Repechage

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Vaughan Thomas   Great Britain 6:31.11 Q
2 Dino Lucchetta   Italy 6:32.14 Q
3 Terry Paul   Canada 6:33.05 Q
4 Javier Viñolas   Spain 6:34.36
5 Park Seong-nae   South Korea 7:19.22

Semifinals

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Semifinal 1

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Hendrik Reiher   East Germany 6:07.91 QA
2 Marin Gheorghe   Romania 6:09.86 QA
3 Andrew Bird   New Zealand 6:10.41 QA
4 Dino Lucchetta   Italy 6:15.93 QB
5 Oldřich Hejdušek   Czechoslovakia 6:20.42 QB
6 Martin Honegger   Switzerland 7:55.92 QB

Semifinal 2

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time Notes
1 Vaughan Thomas   Great Britain 6:15.22 QA
2 Mark Zembsch   United States 6:15.30 QA
3 Dario Varga   Yugoslavia 6:15.72 QA
4 Martin Ruppel   West Germany 6:15.87 QB
5 Sergey Titov   Soviet Union 6:16.69 QB
6 Terry Paul   Canada 6:17.36 QB

Finals

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Final B

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
7 Martin Ruppel   West Germany 6:42.65
8 Oldřich Hejdušek   Czechoslovakia 6:43.64
9 Terry Paul   Canada 6:44.95
10 Dino Lucchetta   Italy 6:45.39
Martin Honegger   Switzerland DNS
Sergey Titov   Soviet Union DNS

Final A

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Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
  Hendrik Reiher   East Germany 6:10.74
  Ladislau Lovrenschi   Romania 6:13.58
  Andrew Bird   New Zealand 6:15.78
4 Vaughan Thomas   Great Britain 6:18.08
5 Mark Zembsch   United States 6:18.47
6 Dario Varga   Yugoslavia 6:23.28

Final classification

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Rank Rowers Nation
  Bernd Niesecke
Hendrik Reiher
Karsten Schmeling
Bernd Eichwurzel
Frank Klawonn
  East Germany
  Dimitrie Popescu
Ioan Snep
Vasile Tomoiagă
Ladislau Lovrenschi
Valentin Robu
  Romania
  Chris White
Ian Wright
Andrew Bird
Greg Johnston
George Keys
  New Zealand
4 Adam Clift
John Maxey
John Garrett
Martin Cross
Vaughan Thomas
  Great Britain
5 John Terwilliger
Chris Huntington
Tom Darling
John Walters
Mark Zembsch
  United States
6 Sead Marušić
Lazo Pivač
Zlatko Celent
Vladimir Banjanac
Dario Varga
  Yugoslavia
7 Roland Baar
Wolfgang Klapheck
Christoph Korte
Andreas Lütkefels
Martin Ruppel
  West Germany
8 Milan Doleček
Oldřich Hejdušek
Petr Hlídek
Dušan Macháček
Michal Šubrt
  Czechoslovakia
9 Harold Backer
John Houlding
Robert Marland
Terry Paul
Brian Saunderson
  Canada
10 Giuseppe Carando
Leonardo Massa
Antonio Maurogiovanni
Giovanni Miccoli
Dino Lucchetta
  Italy
11 Martin Honegger
Marcel Hotz
Bruno Saile
Günter Schneider
Jörg Weitnauer
  Switzerland
Sigitas Kučinskas
Jonas Narmontas
Vladimir Romanishin
Sergey Titov
Igor Zotov
  Soviet Union
13 Agustín Alarcón
Baltasar Márquez
José Ramón Oyarzábal
Ibon Urbieta
Javier Viñolas
  Spain
14 Jeong Jae-won
Gang Man-gu
Lee Tae-hwa
Park Seong-nae
Yang Gwang-jae
  South Korea

References

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  1. ^ "Rowing at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Coxed Fours, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Why Do We Race 2000m? The History Behind the Distance". World Rowing. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  4. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, pp. 525–27.