Kayak Singles, 500 metres, Women
| Date | 28 July 1952 |
|---|---|
| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Taivallahti, Helsinki |
| Participants | 13 from 13 countries |
Sylvi Saimo of Finland was the reigning World Champion in the women’s K-1 500 and the favorite to take the event at the 1952 Summer Olympics. The defending Olympic champion and most recent World runner-up, Denmark’s Karen Hoff, was not present in Helsinki, and her nation was represented by Bodil Svendsen, who had won World Championship medals as far back as the inaugural edition in 1938. The most recent Olympic runner-up, Lida van der Anker-Doedens of the Netherlands, returned in the hopes of nabbing gold, while Gertrude Liebhart of Austria was representing the defending Olympic bronze medalist nation. The opening heats were won by Saimo, van der Anker-Doedens, and Nina Savina of the Soviet Union but, in the medal round, the final stretch came down to a race between Saimo and Liebhart, with the former edging out the latter by only 0.4 seconds to claim gold. Austria thus settled for silver while Savina snuck ahead of van der Anker-Doedens to claim bronze. Svendsen, meanwhile, was fifth. One other notable participant was Therese Zenz who, representing the French protectorate of Saar (1947-1956), finished ninth, which was her nation’s second-best performance at the Games (behind Erich Schmidt’s joint-eighth in lightweight Greco-Roman wrestling). She would go on to win three Olympic silver medals for West Germany in 1956 and 1960.
| Pos | Number | Competitor | NOC | R1 | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Sylvi Saimo |  FIN | 2:20.1 (1 h1) | 2:18.4 (1) | Gold | ||
| 2 | – | Gertrude Liebhart |  AUT | 2:20.6 (2 h1) | 2:18.8 (2) | Silver | ||
| 3 | – | Nina Savina |  URS | 2:22.1 (1 h2) | 2:21.6 (3) | Bronze | ||
| 4 | – | Lida van der Anker-Doedens |  NED | 2:24.4 (1 h3) | 2:22.3 (4) | |||
| 5 | – | Bodil Svendsen |  DEN | 2:24.9 (2 h2) | 2:22.7 (5) | |||
| 6 | – | Cecília Hartmann |  HUN | 2:23.8 (3 h1) | 2:23.0 (6) | |||
| 7 | – | Marta Kroutilová |  TCH | 2:27.1 (3 h2) | 2:23.8 (7) | |||
| 8 | – | Josefa Köster |  GER | 2:26.2 (2 h3) | 2:25.9 (8) | |||
| 9 | – | Therese Zenz |  SAA | 2:26.9 (3 h3) | 2:27.9 (9) | |||
| 4 h1 r1/2 | – | Éva Marion |  FRA | 2:24.2 (4 h1) | – | |||
| 4 h2 r1/2 | – | Shirley Ascott |  GBR | 2:34.4 (4 h2) | – | |||
| 4 h3 r1/2 | – | Elsi Sidler |  SUI | 2:43.1 (4 h3) | – | |||
| 5 h1 r1/2 | – | Anna-Lisa Ohlsson |  SWE | 2:28.3 (5 h1) | – |
Round One
| Date | 28 July 1952 — 10:00 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top three in each heat advanced to the semi-finals. |
Heat #1
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Sylvi Saimo | FIN | 2:20.1 | ||
| 2 | – | Gertrude Liebhart | AUT | 2:20.6 | ||
| 3 | – | Cecília Hartmann | HUN | 2:23.8 | ||
| 4 | – | Éva Marion | FRA | 2:24.2 | ||
| 5 | – | Anna-Lisa Ohlsson | SWE | 2:28.3 |
Heat #2
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Nina Savina | URS | 2:22.1 | ||
| 2 | – | Bodil Svendsen | DEN | 2:24.9 | ||
| 3 | – | Marta Kroutilová | TCH | 2:27.1 | ||
| 4 | – | Shirley Ascott | GBR | 2:34.4 |
Heat #3
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Lida van der Anker-Doedens | NED | 2:24.4 | ||
| 2 | – | Josefa Köster | GER | 2:26.2 | ||
| 3 | – | Therese Zenz | SAA | 2:26.9 | ||
| 4 | – | Elsi Sidler | SUI | 2:43.1 |
Final Round
| Date | 28 July 1952 — 17:00 |
|---|
| Pos | Lane | Competitor | NOC | Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | – | Sylvi Saimo | FIN | 2:18.4 | ||
| 2 | – | Gertrude Liebhart | AUT | 2:18.8 | ||
| 3 | – | Nina Savina | URS | 2:21.6 | ||
| 4 | – | Lida van der Anker-Doedens | NED | 2:22.3 | ||
| 5 | – | Bodil Svendsen | DEN | 2:22.7 | ||
| 6 | – | Cecília Hartmann | HUN | 2:23.0 | ||
| 7 | – | Marta Kroutilová | TCH | 2:23.8 | ||
| 8 | – | Josefa Köster | GER | 2:25.9 | ||
| 9 | – | Therese Zenz | SAA | 2:27.9 |