The men's K-4 1000 metres event was a fours kayaking event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1980 Summer Olympics program.
| align=center bgcolor=gold | Gold | align=center bgcolor=silver | Silver | align=center bgcolor=cc9966 | Bronze |
Rüdiger Helm Bernd Olbricht Harald Marg Bernd Duvigneau | Mihai Zafiu Vasile Dîba Ion Geantă Nicușor Eșanu | Borislav Borisov Bozhidar Milenkov Lazar Khristov Ivan Manev |
14 crews entered in two heats on July 31, but two teams withdrew. The top three finishers from each of the heats advanced directly to the finals while the remaining six teams were relegated to the semifinal.
| Heat 1 | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 3:02.70 | QF | |
| 2. | 3:04.77 | QF | |||
| 3. | 3:05.20 | QF | |||
| 4. | 3:06.19 | QS | |||
| 5. | 3:07.19 | QS | |||
| 6. | 3:08.69 | QS | |||
| 7. | 3:10.18 | QS | |||
| Heat 2 | |||||
| 1. | 3:04.86 | QF | |||
| 2. | 3:09.92 | QF | |||
| 3. | 3:10.49 | QF | |||
| 4. | 3:13.62 | QS | |||
| 5. | 3:13.86 | QS | |||
| - | Did not start | ||||
| - | Did not start |
The top three finishers in the semifinal (raced on August 2) advanced to the final.
| Semifinal | |||||
| width=30 | 1. | width=80 | 3:09.63 | QF | |
| 2. | 3:11.46 | QF | |||
| 3. | 3:12.00 | QF | |||
| 4. | 3:13.41 | ||||
| 5. | 3:16.43 | ||||
| 6. | 3:16.58 |
The final was held on August 2.
| width=30 bgcolor=gold | width=60 | 3:13.76 | ||
| bgcolor=silver | 3:15.35 | |||
| 3:15.46 | ||||
| 4. | 3:16.33 | |||
| 5. | 3:17.27 | |||
| 6. | 3:17.60 | |||
| 7. | 3:19.83 | |||
| 8. | 3:19.87 | |||
| 9. | 3:20.74 |