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Kayak Singles, 500 metres, Women

Date3 – 7 August 1992
StatusOlympic
LocationCanal Olímpico de Cataluña, Castelldefels
Participants16 from 16 countries

Birgit Schmidt, the dominant force in women’s canoeing for many years, had retired after the 1988 Summer Olympics, but returned to compete at the 1992 Games for a unified Germany. Vanya Gesheva, the Bulgarian who had dealt Schmidt a surprising defeat in the 1988 K-1 500, had retired, and thus the German had new challenges to overcome, including one from Josefa Idem, the 1990 World Champion and 1989 and 1991 World bronze medalist who had competed for West Germany at the 1984 and 1988 Games, but was now racing for Italy by virtue of her marriage to her coach Guglielmo Guerrini. Another contender was Poland’s Izabella Dylewska-Światowiak, the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist. Schmidt set an Olympic record in the seeding round that was bested by Idem in the semi-finals, who defeated Schmidt in the process, and then again by Hungary’s Rita Kőbán, the 1991 World runner-up, who outperformed Dylewska-Światowiak. The final was a battle between Schmidt and Kőbán, but the German’s determination won through and she captured the gold medal by 0.36 seconds. Dylewska-Światowiak, meanwhile, came in 0.4 seconds later and edged out Idem for bronze by approximately the same margin. Kőbán would have her revenge on Schmidt in the K-4 500, where the Hungarians won gold and the Germans took silver, and would earn a full complement of medals at the Games by capturing bronze in the K-2 500.

PosNumberCompetitorNOCR1SFFinal
1155Birgit SchmidtGER1:52.49 (1 h1)1:52.13 (2 h1)1:51.60 (1)Gold
2175Rita KőbánHUN1:53.36 (2 h1)1:50.97 (1 h2)1:51.96 (2)Silver
3243Izabela Dylewska-ŚwiatowiakPOL1:55.72 (4 h1)1:51.61 (2 h2)1:52.36 (3)Bronze
4197Josefa IdemITA1:54.08 (3 h1)1:51.56 (1 h1)1:52.78 (4)
5018Uschi ProfanterAUT1:56.25 (5 h1)1:52.86 (4 h1)1:53.17 (5)
6122Sabine GoetschyFRA1:57.68 (3 h2)1:51.99 (3 h2)1:53.53 (6)
7039Caroline BrunetCAN1:56.32 (2 h2)1:52.69 (3 h1)1:54.82 (7)
8279Sanda TomaROU1:55.24 (2 h3)1:52.82 (5 h2)1:54.84 (8)
9293Susanne GunnarssonSWE1:54.14 (1 h2)1:52.30 (4 h2)1:55.55 (9)
5 h1 r2/3323Sheila ConoverUSA1:54.57 (1 h3)1:53.05 (5 h1)
6 h1 r2/3112Irina VaagEUN1:57.47 (3 h3)1:56.71 (6 h1)
6 h2 r2/3288Ingrid HaralamowSUI1:58.74 (4 h2)1:55.36 (6 h2)
7 h1 r2/3090Susana TorrejónESP2:03.76 (5 h2)2:00.33 (7 h1)
7 h2 r2/3069Yvonne KnudsenDEN2:01.09 (6 h1)1:57.94 (7 h2)
8 h1 r2/3286Dene SimpsonRSA2:06.62 (7 h1)2:02.42 (8 h1)
8 h2 r2/3140Alison ThorogoodGBR1:57.63 (4 h3)1:58.23 (8 h2)

Round One

Date3 August 1992
FormatSeeding round for semi-finals.

Heat #1

Time10:10
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime250 m250-500 m
13Birgit SchmidtGER1:52.4954.34 (1)58.15 (2)QOB
21Rita KőbánHUN1:53.3655.33 (3)58.03 (1)Q
35Josefa IdemITA1:54.0855.23 (2)58.85 (3)Q
44Izabela Dylewska-ŚwiatowiakPOL1:55.7255.64 (4)1:00.08 (4)Q
52Uschi ProfanterAUT1:56.2556.10 (5)1:00.15 (5)Q
67Yvonne KnudsenDEN2:01.0958.36 (6)1:02.73 (6)Q
76Dene SimpsonRSA2:06.621:01.71 (7)1:04.91 (7)Q

Heat #2

Time10:20
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime250 m250-500 m
15Susanne GunnarssonSWE1:54.1455.73 (2)58.41 (1)Q
23Caroline BrunetCAN1:56.3254.85 (1)1:01.47 (2)Q
32Sabine GoetschyFRA1:57.6856.11 (3)1:01.57 (3)Q
44Ingrid HaralamowSUI1:58.7456.91 (4)1:01.83 (4)Q
56Susana TorrejónESP2:03.7659.13 (5)1:04.63 (5)Q

Heat #3

Time10:30
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime250 m250-500 m
14Sheila ConoverUSA1:54.5756.44 (2)58.13 (1)Q
26Sanda TomaROU1:55.2456.39 (1)58.85 (2)Q
35Irina VaagEUN1:57.4757.70 (3)59.77 (4)Q
43Alison ThorogoodGBR1:57.6358.50 (4)59.13 (3)Q

Semi-Finals

Date5 August 1992
FormatTop four in each heat and fastest fifth advanced to the final.

Heat #1

Time10:00
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime250 m250-500 m
15Josefa IdemITA1:51.5653.91 (2)57.65 (2)QOB
27Birgit SchmidtGER1:52.1353.76 (1)58.37 (3)Q
32Caroline BrunetCAN1:52.6953.92 (3)58.77 (5)Q
43Uschi ProfanterAUT1:52.8654.47 (4)58.39 (4)Q
51Sheila ConoverUSA1:53.0555.88 (5)57.17 (1)
66Irina VaagEUN1:56.7156.42 (6)1:00.29 (6)
78Susana TorrejónESP2:00.3357.25 (7)1:03.08 (8)
84Dene SimpsonRSA2:02.4259.68 (8)1:02.74 (7)

Heat #2

Time10:15
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime250 m250-500 m
16Rita KőbánHUN1:50.9753.48 (1)57.49 (3)QOB
23Izabela Dylewska-ŚwiatowiakPOL1:51.6154.36 (3)57.25 (2)Q
38Sabine GoetschyFRA1:51.9953.95 (2)58.04 (5)Q
44Susanne GunnarssonSWE1:52.3055.09 (5)57.21 (1)Q
55Sanda TomaROU1:52.8254.86 (4)57.96 (4)q
67Ingrid HaralamowSUI1:55.3656.71 (6)58.65 (6)
72Yvonne KnudsenDEN1:57.9456.89 (7)1:01.05 (8)
81Alison ThorogoodGBR1:58.2358.72 (8)59.51 (7)

Final Round

Date7 August 1992 — 10:00
PosLaneCompetitorNOCTime250 m250-500 m
14Birgit SchmidtGER1:51.6053.71 (1)57.89 (2)
21Rita KőbánHUN1:51.9653.79 (2)58.17 (4)
32Izabela Dylewska-ŚwiatowiakPOL1:52.3654.50 (4)57.86 (1)
45Josefa IdemITA1:52.7854.65 (5)58.13 (3)
59Uschi ProfanterAUT1:53.1754.95 (7)58.22 (5)
63Sabine GoetschyFRA1:53.5354.88 (6)58.65 (6)
78Caroline BrunetCAN1:54.8254.42 (3)1:00.40 (9)
87Sanda TomaROU1:54.8456.11 (9)58.73 (7)
96Susanne GunnarssonSWE1:55.5555.90 (8)59.65 (8)