Canoeing at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Women's K-4 500 metres

The women's K-4 500 metres event was a fours kayaking event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1988 Summer Olympics program.

Medalists

Gold Gold	Silver Silver	Bronze Bronze
File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany (GDR) Birgit Schmidt Anke Nothnagel Ramona Portwich Heike Singer	File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary (HUN) Erika Géczi Erika Mészáros Éva Rakusz Rita Kőbán	File:Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg Bulgaria (BUL) Vanja Gesheva Diana Paliiska Ogniana Petkova Borislava Ivanova

Results

Heats

13 crews entered in two heats on September 27. The top three finishers from each of the heats advanced directly to the finals while the remaining seven teams were relegated to the semifinal.

Heat 1
1.	File:Flag of East Germany.svg Birgit Schmidt, Anke Nothnagel, Ramona Portwich, and Heike Singer (GDR)	1:36.84	QF
2.	File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Irina Salomykova, Irina Khmelevskaya, Aleksandra Apanovich, and Nadezhda Kovalevich (URS)	1:37.78	QF
3.	File:Flag of Sweden.svg Anna Olsson, Agneta Andersson, Susanne Wiberg, and Liselotte Olsson (SWE)	1:41.40	QF
4.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Traci Phillips, Shelia Conover, Cathy Marino-Geers, and Shirley Dery-Batlik (USA)	1:41.77	QS
5.	File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nancy Olmsted, Barbara Olmsted, Caroline Brunet, and Sheila Taylor (CAN)	1:43.52	QS
6.	File:Flag of France.svg Sylvie Cuvilly, Claudine LeRoux, Virginie Vandamme, and Béatrice Basson (FRA)	1:45.41	QS
7.	File:Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg Lee Do-Hui, Jeong Mi, Kim Mi-Ja, and Choi Seon-Hyeong (KOR)	1:49.97	QS
Heat 2
1.	File:Flag of Hungary.svg Erika Géczi, Erika Mészáros, Éva Rakusz, and Rita Kőbán (HUN)	1:36.48	QF
2.	File:Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg Vanja Gesheva, Diana Paliiska, Ogniana Petkova, and Borislava Ivanova (BUL)	1:39.40	QF
3.	File:Flag of Denmark.svg Yvonne Knudsen, Susanne Sangaard Petersen, Jeanette Knudsen, and Birgitte Froberg (DEN)	1:40.87	QF
4.	File:Flag of Poland.svg Bożena Ksiąźek, Elżbieta Urbańczyk, Jolanta Łukaszewicz, and Katarzyna Weiss (POL)	1:41.07	QS
5.	File:Flag of Germany.svg Josefa Idem, Claudia Österheld, Andrea Martin, and Ruth Domgörgen (FRG)	1:43.43	QS
6.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Angela Dawson, Janine Lawler, Susie Perret, and Andrea Dallaway (GBR)	1:46.68	QS

Semifinal

The top three finishers in the semifinal (raced on September 29) advanced to the final.

Semifinal
1.	File:Flag of Germany.svg Josefa Idem, Claudia Österheld, Andrea Martin, and Ruth Domgörgen (FRG)	1:42.09	QF
2.	File:Flag of Poland.svg Bożena Ksiąźek, Elżbieta Urbańczyk, Jolanta Łukaszewicz, and Katarzyna Weiss (POL)	1:42.55	QF
3.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Traci Phillips, Shelia Conover, Cathy Marino-Geers, and Shirley Dery-Batlik (USA)	1:43.17	QF
4.	File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nancy Olmsted, Barbara Olmsted, Caroline Brunet, and Sheila Taylor (CAN)	1:43.63
5.	File:Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg Angela Dawson, Janine Lawler, Susie Perret, and Andrea Dallaway (GBR)	1:46.18
6.	File:Flag of France.svg Sylvie Cuvilly, Claudine LeRoux, Virginie Vandamme, and Béatrice Basson (FRA)	1:47.71
7.	File:Flag of South Korea (1984-1997).svg Lee Do-Hui, Jeong Mi, Kim Mi-Ja, and Choi Seon-Hyeong (KOR)	1:51.16

South Korea's intermediate time was not listed in the official report.

Final

A final was held on October 1.

Gold	File:Flag of East Germany.svg Birgit Schmidt, Anke Nothnagel, Ramona Portwich, and Heike Singer (GDR)	1:40.78
Silver	File:Flag of Hungary.svg Erika Géczi, Erika Mészáros, Éva Rakusz, and Rita Kőbán (HUN)	1:41.88
Bronze	File:Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg Vanja Gesheva, Diana Paliiska, Ogniana Petkova, and Borislava Ivanova (BUL)	1:42.63
4.	File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Irina Salomykova, Irina Khmelevskaya, Aleksandra Apanovich, and Nadezhda Kovalevich (URS)	1:44.26
5.	File:Flag of Germany.svg Josefa Idem, Claudia Österheld, Andrea Martin, and Ruth Domgörgen (FRG)	1:45.62
6.	File:Flag of Sweden.svg Anna Olsson, Agneta Andersson, Susanne Wiberg, and Liselotte Olsson (SWE)	1:45.67
7.	File:Flag of Denmark.svg Yvonne Knudsen, Susanne Sangaard Petersen, Jeanette Knudsen, and Birgitte Froberg (DEN)	1:47.10
8.	File:Flag of Poland.svg Bożena Ksiąźek, Elżbieta Urbańczyk, Jolanta Łukaszewicz, and Katarzyna Weiss (POL)	1:47.40
9.	File:Flag of the United States.svg Traci Phillips, Shelia Conover, Cathy Marino-Geers, and Shirley Dery-Batlik (USA)	1:47.94

References

• 1988 Summer Olympics official report Volume 2, Part 2. p. 350. (in English and French)
• Sports-reference.com women's 1988 K-4 500 m results.