Rowing at the 1932 Summer Olympics – Men's coxed four

This was the sixth appearance of the event. Rowing had been on the programme in 1896 but was cancelled due to bad weather. The coxed four was one of the four initial events introduced in 1900. It was not held in 1904 or 1908, but was held at every Games from 1912 to 1992 when it (along with the men's coxed pair) was replaced with the men's lightweight double sculls and men's lightweight coxless four.^[2]

Five of the 11 nations from the 1928 Games returned: gold medallists Italy, bronze medallists Poland, fourth-place finishers Germany, seventh-place finishers the United States, and ninth-place finishers Japan. Italy and Switzerland (the silver medallists in 1928) had been the strongest teams in the event for most of the last decade; with Switzerland not having a crew in Los Angeles, Italy was favoured. The Italians had won the European championships five of the last six times, coming in second to Denmark (another nation with no crew competing at the Games) the one remaining time.^[2]

New Zealand made its debut in the event. Germany and the United States both made their fourth appearance, matching the absent Belgium and France for most among nations to that point.

The coxed four event featured five-person boats, with four rowers and a coxswain. It was a sweep rowing event, with the rowers each having one oar (and thus each rowing on one side). The competition used the 2000 metres distance that became standard at the 1912 Olympics and which has been used ever since except at the 1948 Games.^[3]

With fewer boats and a wider course, the competition went from a seven-round tournament in 1928 to only three rounds in 1932. There were two main rounds (semifinals and a final) along with a repechage.

• There were two semifinal heats, with 3 and 4 boats each. The winner of each heat advanced directly to the final, while the 2nd and 3rd placed boats in each heat competed in the repechage.
• There was a single repechage heat, with 4 boats. The top two boats advanced to the final.
• There was a single final, with 4 boats, to determine the medals and 4th place.