Kayak Fours (K4), 1,000 metres, Men

Unlike the 1980 American-led boycott, which had had a limited impact on the canoeing events, the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics severely depleted the field in the sport. This was noticeable in the men’s K-4 1000, as nations that had won two of the last edition’s medals and five of the last nine World Championship medals were absent. Romania, as the defending Olympic runner-up and reigning World Champion, was probably the strongest among those who remained, although Sweden had been World Champion in 1982 and West Germany had been a bronze medalist in 1981 and 1982. Three of New Zealand’s crew, meanwhile, already had at least one gold medal from these Games by the time of the final: Alan Thompson in the K-1 1000, Paul MacDonald in the K-2 500, and Ian Ferguson in the K-1 and K-2 500. Sweden’s Per-Inge Bengtsson, meanwhile, had been runner-up to MacDonald and Ferguson in the K-2 500, while his compatriot Lars-Erik Moberg had been second to Ferguson in the K-1 and K-2 500s.

New Zealand posted the fastest time in the opening round, besting both Romania and West Germany, while Sweden came in third in another heat behind France and Australia. New Zealand, France, and Romania were the winners of the semi-finals, beating Sweden, West Germany, and Australia respectively. The final came down to a close battle between New Zealand and Sweden, but Moberg was forced for a third time to accept silver behind Ferguson as the New Zealanders won it by a margin of 0.53 seconds in Olympic record time. The race for third a four-way struggle between France, Romania, Great Britain, and Spain, who finished in that order with only 0.77 seconds between them.