# Canoeing at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's K-4 500 metres

The women's canoe sprint K-4 500 metres competition at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place between 6 and 8 August at Eton Dorney.
Gabriella Szabó, Danuta Kozák, Katalin Kovács and Krisztina Fazekas Zur, representing Hungary, won the gold medal. Germany's team won silver and Belarus took the bronze.

## Competition format

The competition comprised three heats, a semi-finals, and a final. The first boat and second-best in each heat qualified for the final, with the remainder going to the semi-final where the top five boats then qualified for the final.

## Schedule

All times are British Summer Time (UTC+01:00)
| Date | Time | Round |
| Monday 6 August 2012 | 10:39 11:51 | Heats Semi-finals |
| Wednesday 8 August 2012 | 10:44 | Finals |

## Results
### Heats

The first boat from each heat and the fastest runner-up qualified for the final, with the remainder going to the semi-finals.

#### Heat 1

| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Gabriella Szabó Danuta Kozák Katalin Kovács Krisztina Fazekas Zur | Hungary | 1:35.769 | Q |
| 2 | Jess Walker Rachel Cawthorn Angela Hannah Louisa Sawers | Great Britain | 1:37.355 | |
| 3 | Marie Delattre-Demory Joanne Mayer Sarah Guyot Gabrielle Tuleu | France | 1:40.022 | |
| 4 | Yu Lamei Li Zhangli Ren Wenjun Liu Haiping | China | 1:40.661 | |
| 5 | Antonia Horvat-Panda Antonija Nađ Renata Major-Kubik Marta Tibor | Serbia | 1:40.756 | |
| 6 | Rach Lovell Hannah Davis Jo Brigden-Jones Lyndsie Fogarty | Australia | 1:41.794 | |

#### Heat 2

| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Carolin Leonhardt Franziska Weber Katrin Wagner-Augustin Tina Dietze | Germany | 1:31.633 | Q |
| 2 | Teresa Portela Joana Vasconcelos Beatriz Gomes Helena Rodrigues | Portugal | 1:32.785 | Q |
| 3 | Iryna Pamialova Nadzeya Papok Volha Khudzenka Maryna Pautaran | Belarus | 1:33.676 | |
| 4 | Yuliana Salakhova Vera Sobetova Natalia Podolskaya Yulia Kachalova | Russia | 1:33.680 | |
| 5 | Marta Walczykiewicz Aneta Konieczna Karolina Naja Beata Mikołajczyk | Poland | 1:35.843 | |

### Semifinal

The top five boats qualified for the final.
| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | Marta Walczykiewicz Aneta Konieczna Karolina Naja Beata Mikołajczyk | Poland | 1:30.338 | Q, WB |
| 2 | Iryna Pamialova Nadzeya Papok Volha Khudzenka Maryna Pautaran | Belarus | 1:30.883 | Q |
| 3 | Yuliana Salakhova Vera Sobetova Natalia Podolskaya Yulia Kachalova | Russia | 1:31.824 | Q |
| 4 | Jess Walker Rachel Cawthorn Angela Hannah Louisa Sawers | Great Britain | 1:32.550 | Q |
| 5 | Marie Delattre-Demory Joanne Mayer Sarah Guyot Gabrielle Tuleu | France | 1:33.303 | Q |
| 6 | Rach Lovell Hannah Davis Jo Brigden-Jones Lyndsie Fogarty | Australia | 1:33.671 | |
| 7 | Antonia Horvat-Panda Antonija Nađ Renata Major-Kubik Marta Tibor | Serbia | 1:33.823 | |
| 8 | Yu Lamei Li Zhangli Ren Wenjun Liu Haiping | China | 1:34.004 | |

### Final

| Rank | Canoer | Country | Time |
| | Gabriella Szabó Danuta Kozák Katalin Kovács Krisztina Fazekas Zur | Hungary | 1:30.827 |
| | Carolin Leonhardt Franziska Weber Katrin Wagner-Augustin Tina Dietze | Germany | 1:31.298 |
| | Iryna Pamialova Nadzeya Papok Volha Khudzenka Maryna Pautaran | Belarus | 1:31.400 |
| 4 | Marta Walczykiewicz Aneta Konieczna Karolina Naja Beata Mikołajczyk | Poland | 1:31.607 |
| 5 | Jess Walker Rachel Cawthorn Angela Hannah Louisa Sawers | Great Britain | 1:33.055 |
| 6 | Teresa Portela Joana Vasconcelos Beatriz Gomes Helena Rodrigues | Portugal | 1:33.453 |
| 7 | Yuliana Salakhova Vera Sobetova Natalia Podolskaya Yulia Kachalova | Russia | 1:33.459 |
| 8 | Marie Delattre-Demory Joanne Mayer Sarah Guyot Gabrielle Tuleu | France | 1:35.299 |
After winning three straight Olympic silvers in this event, Kovacs finally won her gold, beating out the German team led by Wagner-Augustin, who had won three straight Olympic golds in this event.