Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's quadruple sculls
The women's quadruple sculls competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Lake Casitas, California, United States of America.
Competition format
The competition consisted of two main rounds as well as a repechage. The 7 boats were divided into two heats for the first round, with 4 boats in one heat and 3 in the other. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the "A" final. The remaining 5 boats were placed in the repechage. A single heat was held in the repechage. The top four boats in the repechage went to the "A" final. The remaining boat was eliminated at 7th place overall.All races were over a 1000 metre course. This was the last Games that the women's quadruple sculls used a coxswain.
Results
Heats
The heats were held on July 30, during calm winds on a warm day. The winner of each advanced to the A final, with all others going to the repechage. No boats were eliminated in this round.Heat 1
The Romanian boat established a 2.5 second lead over the West Germans by the halfway mark and won easily. The French team moved past the Germans into second place over the second half, with the Canadians also overtaking West Germany.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ecaterina Oancia | 3:15.34 | |||
| 2 | Patricia Couturier | 3:18.88 | |||
| 3 | Carolyn Trono | 3:19.83 | |||
| 4 | Kathrien Plückhahn | 3:19.85 |
Heat 2
The second heat resulted in an extremely close finish. The American boat had a half-second lead over the Danes at the halfway mark, but the Danish team closed the distance over the last 500 metres. The final margin for the United States was.01 seconds, allowing them to skip the repechage and go straight to the final while Denmark was forced to race in the repechage. Italy was not competitive in this race, finishing 8 seconds after the other two boats.| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Kelly Rickon | 3:14.68 | |||
| 2 | Jette Sørensen | 3:14.69 | |||
| 3 | Roberta Del Core | 3:22.89 |
Repechage
The repechage was held on August 1. The winds were calm, though the day was cooler than during the heats. Of the five boats in the repechage, all but one would advance to the final—only the last place boat would be eliminated.The West Germany boat started strong, holding nearly a full second lead at the halfway mark. Denmark, France, Italy, and Canada were roughly evenly spaced after that, with approximately half a second between each of those boats. Over the second half of the course, Denmark proved the best—passing West Germany to win by nearly 2 seconds. Canada was unable to gain ground on 4th-place Italy, and finished as the only boat not to reach the final.
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Jette Sørensen | 3:16.32 | |||
| 2 | Kathrien Plückhahn | 3:18.21 | |||
| 3 | Patricia Couturier | 3:19.01 | |||
| 4 | Roberta Del Core | 3:19.26 | |||
| 5 | Carolyn Trono | 3:19.88 | 7th place overall |
Final
Unlike most other rowing events, the women's quadruple sculls had only a single final. The final was held on August 4, a cool day with no wind. West Germany again started strong, taking a lead of 1.2 seconds by the halfway mark, before falling back. Romania ultimately won relatively comfortably, beating the silver medalists by a second and a half. The description of the battle for second place in Sports-Reference indicates a very close finish, though this is not supported by the official times, which have the Americans winning by 0.45 seconds—a close race, but not nearly so close as the two had in the heats.The third through sixth place teams finished in the same order as they had in the repechage, with Denmark taking the bronze followed by West Germany, France, and Italy.
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| Ecaterina Oancia | 3:14.11 | |||
| Kelly Rickon | 3:15.57 | |||
| Jette Sørensen | 3:16.02 | |||
| 4 | Kathrien Plückhahn | 3:16.81 | ||
| 5 | Patricia Couturier | 3:17.87 | ||
| 6 | Roberta Del Core | 3:21.48 |
Final classification
| Rank | Rowers | Country |
| Titie Taran Anisoara Sorohan Ioana Badea Sofia Corban Ecaterina Oancia | ||
| Anne Marden Lisa Rohde Joan Lind Ginny Gilder Kelly Rickon | ||
| Hanne Eriksen Birgitte Hanel Charlotte Koefoed Bodil Rasmussen Jette Sørensen | ||
| 4 | Anne Dickmann Regina Kleine-Kuhlmann Ute Kumitz Sabine Reuter Kathrien Plückhahn | |
| 5 | Évelyne Imbert Lydie Dubedat-Briero Christine Gossé Hélène Ledoux Patricia Couturier | |
| 6 | Raffaella Memo Alessandra Borio Donata Minorati Antonella Corazza Roberta Del Core Paola Grizzetti | |
| 7 | Lisa Roy Janice Mason Vicki Harber Dolores Young Carolyn Trono |