Quadruple Sculls, Men

The Italian quartet of Massimo Paradiso, Alessio Sartori, Rossano Galtarossa, and Alessandro Corona had won the men’s quadruple sculls at the last two World Championships, with Galtarossa and Corona also having won bronze in the event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. At the 1996 edition, their biggest challengers would be the Germans, who brought three of the four defending Olympic champions, Andreas Hajek, Stephan Volkert, and André Willms, to Atlanta, augmented by André Steiner. With different lineups, Germany had been the 1993 World Champion, the 1994 bronze medalist, and the 1995 runner-up. The Ukrainian crew of Oleksandr Marchenko, Oleksandr Zaskalko, Mykola Chupryna, and Leonid Shaposhnykov had been World runners-up in 1993 and 1994, while Argentina, represented in Atlanta by Carlos Pages, Santiago Fernández, Rubén Knulst, and Guillermo Pfaab were the most recent World bronze medalists and Pan American champions.

Despite having the easiest heat, Australia posted the fastest time in the opening round, with other victors Italy and Germany not far behind. Argentina, meanwhile, was eliminated in the repêchage. Italy and Germany won the semi-finals, with the latter eliminating Ukraine in the process, but it was Germany who took command of the medal round, winning gold a safe distance ahead of the United States, which had been runner-up in its opening and semi-final heats, but had not been considered a significant threat. Its crew included three runners-up from the most recent Pan American Games, Tim Young, Brian Jamieson, and Jason Gailes, augmented by Eric Mueller, all of whom took home silver by finishing comfortably ahead of Australia, the bronze medalists. The Italians, who had faltered during the race, came in at fourth.