Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

The men's coxed four (M4+) competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Casitas in Ventura County, California, United States. It was held from 30 July to 5 August and the dominant nations were missing from the event due to the Eastern Bloc boycott. The teams from the United States and New Zealand were regarded as favourites, but it was Great Britain that dominated the regatta, thus winning the nation's first rowing gold since the 1948 Summer Olympics, back then in front of their home crowd at the Henley Royal Regatta course. The 1984 event started Steve Redgrave's Olympic rowing success that would eventually see him win five Olympic gold medals.

Men's coxed four at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Venue	Lake Casitas
Date	30 July – 5 August
Competitors	40 from 8 nations
Teams	8[nb 1][2]
Winning time	6:18.64[3]
Medalists
Martin Cross Richard Budgett Andy Holmes Steve Redgrave Adrian Ellison (cox)  Great Britain Thomas Kiefer Gregory Springer Michael Bach Edward Ives John Stillings (cox)  United States Kevin Lawton Don Symon Barrie Mabbott Ross Tong Brett Hollister (cox)  New Zealand

Background

East Germany was the dominating country for the men's coxed four competition; since the 1977 World Rowing Championships, they had won this competition every year but for the previous world championship in 1983, when New Zealand claimed the title, displacing East Germany to the silver medal.[2][4] The second most dominating nation at the time was the Soviet Union, which had claimed five top three finishes since the 1976 Summer Olympics.[2][4][5][6][7][8] Both these Eastern Bloc nations were part of the boycott in 1984, and that left New Zealand as the reigning world champion as the favourite for the event.[2] The USA was also highly rated, having won world championship silver and bronze in 1981 and 1982, respectively,[8][9] and gold at the Pan American Games in 1983.[2]

Previous M4+ competitions

Competition	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1976 Summer Olympics[5]	Soviet Union	East Germany	West Germany
1977 World Rowing Championships[10]	East Germany	West Germany	Bulgaria
1978 World Rowing Championships[11]	East Germany	West Germany	Bulgaria
1979 World Rowing Championships[6]	East Germany	Soviet Union	West Germany
1980 Summer Olympics[7]	East Germany	Soviet Union	Poland
1981 World Rowing Championships[8]	East Germany	United States	Soviet Union
1982 World Rowing Championships[9]	East Germany	Czechoslovakia	United States
1983 World Rowing Championships[4]	New Zealand	East Germany	Soviet Union

Results

None of the eight teams swapped the position of their rowers during the competition.[12]

Statue to Sir Steve Redgrave, who won the first of his five Olympic gold medals at this event

Heats

The two heats in round one were rowed on 30 July. The winner of each heat advanced to the A final, while the remaining teams went to the repechage.[13]

Heat 1

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Giovanni Sergi Sergas Giovanni Suarez Gino Iseppi Giuseppe Carando Siro Meli (cox)	Italy	6:23.04	FA
2	Heribert Karches Georg Konermann Wolfram Thiem Wolfgang Maennig Manfred Klein (cox)	West Germany	6:28.29	R
3	Dave Ross Tim Christian Richard Doey Nick Toulmin Paul Tessier (cox)	Canada	6:29.19	R
4	André Berezin Luiz dos Santos Dênis Marinho Laildo Machado Manuel Mandel (cox)	Brazil	6:39.88	R

Heat 2

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Martin Cross Richard Budgett Andy Holmes Steve Redgrave Adrian Ellison (cox)	Great Britain	6:18.79	FA
2	Thomas Kiefer Gregory Springer Michael Bach Edward Ives John Stillings (cox)	United States	6:21.94	R
3	Kevin Lawton Don Symon Barrie Mabbott Ross Tong Brett Hollister (cox)	New Zealand	6:27.18	R
4	Satoru Miyoshi Tadashi Abe Shunsuke Kawamoto Hideaki Maeguchi Akihiro Koike (cox)	Japan	6:54.51	R

Repechage

One heat was rowed in the repechage on 2 August. The first four teams advanced to the A final, while the remaining two teams went to the B final.[14]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time	Notes
1	Kevin Lawton Don Symon Barrie Mabbott Ross Tong Brett Hollister (cox)	New Zealand	6:26.18	FA
2	Thomas Kiefer Gregory Springer Michael Bach Edward Ives John Stillings (cox)	United States	6:27.55	FA
3	Heribert Karches Georg Konermann Wolfram Thiem Wolfgang Maennig Manfred Klein (cox)	West Germany	6:29.19	FA
4	Dave Ross Tim Christian Richard Doey Nick Toulmin Paul Tessier (cox)	Canada	6:29.76	FA
5	André Berezin Luiz dos Santos Dênis Marinho Laildo Machado Manuel Mandel (cox)	Brazil	6:33.44	FB
6	Satoru Miyoshi Tadashi Abe Shunsuke Kawamoto Hideaki Maeguchi Akihiro Koike (cox)	Japan	6:55.33	FB

B final

The B final was rowed on 3 August.[3][15]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time
7	André Berezin Luiz dos Santos Dênis Marinho Laildo Machado Manuel Mandel (cox)	Brazil	6:47.13
8	Satoru Miyoshi Tadashi Abe Shunsuke Kawamoto Hideaki Maeguchi Akihiro Koike (cox)	Japan	6:52.62

A final

The A final was rowed on 5 August.[3][15]

Rank	Rower	Country	Time
	Martin Cross Richard Budgett Andy Holmes Steve Redgrave Adrian Ellison (cox)	Great Britain	6:18.64
	Thomas Kiefer Gregory Springer Michael Bach Edward Ives John Stillings (cox)	United States	6:20.28
	Kevin Lawton Don Symon Barrie Mabbott Ross Tong Brett Hollister (cox)	New Zealand	6:23.68
4	Giovanni Sergi Sergas Giovanni Suarez Gino Iseppi Giuseppe Carando Siro Meli (cox)	Italy	6:26.44
5	Dave Ross Tim Christian Richard Doey Nick Toulmin Paul Tessier (cox)	Canada	6:28.78
6	Heribert Karches Georg Konermann Wolfram Thiem Wolfgang Maennig Manfred Klein (cox)	West Germany	6:34.23

Footnotes

1. The official Olympic report states that 9 teams with 45 competitors participated, but then lists 8 teams only[1]

Notes

1. Perelman 1985b, pp. 525–529.
2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
3. Perelman 1985b, p. 529.
4. "1983 World Rowing Championships: (M4+) Men's Coxed Four – Final". WorldRowing.com. International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
5. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
6. "1979 World Rowing Championships: (M4+) Men's Coxed Four – Final". WorldRowing.com. International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
7. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
8. "1981 World Rowing Championships: (M4+) Men's Coxed Four – Final". WorldRowing.com. International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
9. "1982 World Rowing Championships: (M4+) Men's Coxed Four – Final". WorldRowing.com. International Rowing Federation. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
10. "1977 World Rowing Championships: (M4+) Men's Coxed Four – Final". WorldRowing.com. International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
11. "1978 World Rowing Championships: (M4+) Men's Coxed Four – Final". WorldRowing.com. International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
12. Perelman 1985b, pp. 528f.
13. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours Round One". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
14. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours Round One Repêchage". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
15. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours Final Round". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2016.

References

• Perelman, Richard B., ed. (1985). Official Report Los Angeles 1984, Volume 1: Organization and Planning. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

• Volume 1 Part 1
• Volume 1 Part 2
• Volume 1 Part 3

• Perelman, Richard B., ed. (1985). Official Report Los Angeles 1984, Volume 2: Competition and Summary and Results. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.

• Volume 2 Part 1
• Volume 2 Part 2
• Volume 2 Part 3 (page 469 onwards)