Kayak Singles, 500 metres, Women

Recent results for the women’s K-1 500 at major international tournaments had been inconsistent, leaving the field for the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics relatively open for a handful of strong competitors. Hungary’s Katalin Kovács was foremost among them, as she had 18 European and 23 World Championship titles to her name, six of which were from the K-1 500, including ones from the most recent edition of each tournament. She was also representing the nation that had won the event at the last Olympics and the 2006 European and World Championships. Not to be counted out, however, was Josefa Idem who was competing in her seventh Olympics and was, among many other things, the 2000 Olympic champion. More recently she had been the 2006 World runner-up and the 2008 European bronze medalist.

Kovács and Idem won their heats in the opening round, while third was taken by Germany’s Katrin Wagner-Augustin, the 2007 European champion and 2008 runner-up, as well as the 2007 World bronze medalist. The medal round was an incredibly close affair, with Inna Osypenko of Ukraine, Idem, Wagner-Augustin, and Kovács finishing in that order within half a second of each other. Osypenko’s victory was as much a surprise as Kovács missing the podium, as the Ukrainian’s only World Championship medals had been silver and bronze in the 2003 and 2001 K-4 1000 respectively, although she was also a 2004 Olympic K-4 500 bronze medalist. Wagner-Augustin, meanwhile, added bronze to the gold medal that she had won in the K-4 500 the previous day.