Kayak Fours, 500 metres, Women

Germany, East or unified, had won the women’s K-4 500 at the last four editions of the World Championships and was the defending Olympic champion. It had a strong squad in Barcelona that had earned 10 Olympic medals between them, 9 of them gold, which were won between 1980 and 1992, and it was the tournament favorite. Hungary, meanwhile, had been runner-up at each of those tournaments and had five Olympic medals of its own among their crew. These two nations met in the opening heats, where Germany was surprisingly relegated to the semi-finals after being defeated by both Hungary and Sweden, the latter of whom could count six Olympic medals on their squad thanks to Agneta Andersson and Anna Olsson. China, the 1991 World bronze medalists, won the other, much easier heat. Germany had no trouble in the semi-finals and again faced Hungary in the medal round, where the two battled towards the finish in the final stretch of the course. The Hungarians dealt the Germans an unexpected defeat by a margin of only 0.15 seconds, claiming gold as their opponents settled for silver, while Sweden came in for bronze nearly a second and a half later.