Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's coxed four
The women's coxed four competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at took place at Han River Regatta Course, South Korea.
Competition format
The competition consisted of two main rounds as well as a repechage. The 10 boats were divided into two heats for the first round, with 5 boats in each heat. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the "A" final. The remaining 8 boats were placed in the repechage. The repechage featured two heats, with 4 boats in each heat. The top two boats in each repechage heat advanced to the "A" final. The remaining 4 boats were eliminated from medal contention and competed in the "B" final for 7th through 10th place.All races were over a 2000 metre course, unlike previous Games in which women used a 1000 metre course.
Results
Heats
Heat 1
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Sylvia Rose | 7:11.01 | |||
| 2 | Greta Georgieva | 7:11.59 | |||
| 3 | Li Ronghua | 7:17.15 | |||
| 4 | Lesley Thompson-Willie | 7:31.02 | |||
| 5 | Nam Sang-ran | 8:09.58 |
Heat 2
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Ecaterina Oancia | 7:21.43 | |||
| 2 | Valentina Khoklova | 7:28.73 | |||
| 3 | Grażyna Błąd | 7:29.72 | |||
| 4 | Kim Santiago | 7:33.42 | |||
| 5 | Alison Norrish | 7:38.01 |
Repechage
Repechage heat 1
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Greta Georgieva | 7:20.78 | |||
| 2 | Alison Norrish | 7:25.63 | |||
| 3 | Lesley Thompson-Willie | 7:29.71 | |||
| 4 | Grażyna Błąd | 7:32.55 |
Repechage heat 2
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Li Ronghua | 7:23.80 | |||
| 2 | Kim Santiago | 7:28.01 | |||
| 3 | Valentina Khoklova | 7:35.22 | |||
| 4 | Nam Sang-ran | 8:13.07 |
Finals
Final B
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| 7 | Lesley Thompson-Willie | 7:19.86 | ||
| 8 | Grażyna Błąd | 7:22.59 | ||
| 9 | Valentina Khoklova | 7:27.20 | ||
| 10 | Nam Sang-ran | 8:07.71 |
Final A
| Rank | Rowers | Coxswain | Nation | Time |
| Sylvia Rose | 6:56.00 | |||
| Li Ronghua | 6:58.78 | |||
| Ecaterina Oancia | 7:01.13 | |||
| 4 | Greta Georgieva | 7:02.27 | ||
| 5 | Kim Santiago | 7:09.12 | ||
| 6 | Alison Norrish | 7:10.80 |
Final classification
| Rank | Rowers | Nation |
| Martina Walther Gerlinde Doberschütz Carola Hornig Birte Siech Sylvia Rose | ||
| Zhang Xianghua Hu Yadong Yang Xiao Zhou Shouying Li Ronghua | ||
| Marioara Trașcă Veronica Necula Herta Anitaș Doina Șnep-Bălan Ecaterina Oancia Mihaela Armasescu Adriana Bazon | ||
| 4 | Teodora Zareva Violeta Zareva Miglena Mikhaleva Svetla Durchova Greta Georgieva Olya Stoichkova Mariana Stoyanova Katia Todorova | |
| 5 | Jennifer Corbet Sarah Gengler Elizabeth Bradley Cynthia Eckert Kim Santiago | |
| 6 | Fiona Johnston Kate Grose Joanne Gough Susan Smith Alison Norrish | |
| 7 | Heather Clarke Tricia Smith Lesley Thompson-Willie Jane Tregunno Jennifer Walinga | |
| 8 | Grażyna Błąd Elżbieta Jankowska Zyta Jarka Elwira Lorenz Czesława Kościańska-Szczepińska | |
| 9 | Valentina Khoklova Reda Ribinskaitė Elena Tereshina Irina Teterina Marina Suprun | |
| 10 | Gang Min-heung Guk In-suk Lee Gwang-sun Nam Sang-ran Park Mi-jeong |