The men's quadruple sculls competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on the Han River Regatta Course, South Korea.
Competition format
The competition consisted of three main rounds (heats, semifinals, and finals) as well as a repechage. The 13 boats were divided into three heats for the first round, 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 4 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured a single heat; the top three boats advanced to the semifinals, while the last place boat was eliminated (13th 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.
All races were over a 2000 metre course.
Results
Heats
The heats were held on 20 September, a sunny day with 17–18 °C temperatures and 0.9–1.1 m/s west to west-northwest winds. The top three boats in each heat advanced to the semifinals, with all others going to the repechage. No boats were eliminated in this round.
Heat 1
The first heat saw the Hungarian boat take an early lead, by 0.42 seconds over the East Germans at the 500 metre mark. Hungary, however, had the worst second 500 metres of any team and fell back to fourth place. Australia took the lead by halfway; they and East Germany battled for the top spot, but both had little doubt that they would advance. Poland had taken over the third spot when Hungary fell back, and the contest between those two would decide the last advancement place. Hungary was behind by nearly a second at the 1500 metre point, but was able to successfully overtake Poland in the last quarter. The United States trailed the entire way.
Heat 2
The second heat had the Soviets leading at the halfway mark, followed by the West German team. Italy made a strong push in the second half, however, passing both boats to claim the lead. Czechoslovakia trailed the entire time, becoming the only boat from this heat to be sent to the repechage.
Heat 3
The odd team out in the third heat quickly became clear, as Argentina was behind the third place team by 2 seconds at 500 metres and by 3 seconds at 1000 metres. The gap continued to widen and Argentina finished nearly 11 seconds out of the final advancement spot. Within the lead group, Canada led early but Norway established control by the halfway mark. The Netherlands passed Canada as well in the final quarter stretch.
Repechage
The single-heat repechage was held on 21 September, a sunny and warm (23.6 °C) day with 1.3 m/s west-northwest winds. The top three boats in the repechage advanced to the semifinals, with the 4th place boat being eliminated at 13th place overall.
Poland started strong and led at the halfway mark, but had the slowest third and fourth quarters of the field and dropped back into second as Czechoslovakia pushed forward into the lead. The battle for third place was between Argentina and the United States; the Americans held a 2.57 lead at halfway, but the Argentine team made up more than a second of that in between 1000 and 1500 metres and finished with a final quarter more than 2 seconds faster than the Americans, passing them and avoiding elimination.
Semifinals
The semifinals were held on 22 September, a sunny day with roughly 20 °C temperatures. The wind was at 1.3 m/s south for the first heat and picked up to 2.2 m/s for the second. The top three boats in each semifinal advanced to the "A" final, with the bottom three going to the "B" final, out of medal contention.
Semifinal 1
The first semifinal featured a strong start from the West German team, leading at 500 metres. Italy, however, claimed the lead by the halfway mark and retained it the rest of the way. The East German team also passed the West squad in the second half. This put the West German team at risk of missing the "A" final; they had to fight off a challenge from the Dutch team, though did so without much difficulty, finishing about 2 seconds ahead. Hungary kept close early, but fell back in the second half. Argentina was never in serious contention, though did manage to pass Hungary in the last quarter.