The men's quadruple sculls competition at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place on the Han River Regatta Course, South Korea.

[3] The first heat saw the Hungarian boat take an early lead, by 0.42 seconds over the East Germans at the 500 metre mark.

Australia took the lead by halfway; they and East Germany battled for the top spot, but both had little doubt that they would advance.

Italy made a strong push in the second half, however, passing both boats to claim the lead.

Within the lead group, Canada led early but Norway established control by the halfway mark.

[3] 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.

[3] 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.

[3] The second semifinal resulted in numerous changes of order and a tight race for the third and last advancement place.

Canada led early and maintained the lead through the 1500 metre mark, but faltered in the last quarter and dropped to third (and nearly to fourth).

This order held through 1500 metres (with Italy widening its lead to 3 seconds), before the Norwegian squad made a strong push to pass the Soviets and East Germans.