Poland, the ruling world champion, secured gold in the Men's Quadruple Sculls event of the Beijing Olympics with a time of 5:41.33. The Italian team had to settle for silver as they were just two seconds behind Poland, touching the finishing line in 5:43.57.  France, with a time of 5:44.34, bagged bronze.

Poland appears to have got habituated to winning. It won three consecutive world championships in the same event from 2005 to 2007 and even emerged first in 2008 Munich World Cup. In this event too, they had an edge over other competitors right from the world go. Italy was second throughout the race.