Canoeing at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's K-1 500 metres
These are the results of the women's K-1 500 metres competition in canoeing at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The K-1 event is raced by single-person canoe sprint kayaks.
Medalists
Heats
The 23 competitors first raced in three heats. The top finisher in each heat moved directly to the final, and the next 6 finishers in each heat qualified for the two semifinal races. Therefore, only two kayakers were eliminated in the heats. The heats were raced on August 24.| Heat | Place | Athlete | Country | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 1 | Nataša Janić | 1:49.870 | QF | |
| 1 | 2 | Katrin Wagner | 1:53.234 | QS | |
| 1 | 3 | Larissa Peisakhovitch | 1:54.234 | QS | |
| 1 | 4 | Li Ting | 1:55.474 | QS | |
| 1 | 5 | Nathalie Marie | 1:57.342 | QS | |
| 1 | 6 | Fernanda Lauro | 1:59.474 | QS | |
| 1 | 7 | Doan Thi Cach | 2:06.126 | QS | |
| 1 | Natalya Sergeyeva | DSQ | - | ||
| 2 | 1 | Caroline Brunet | 1:50.366 | QF | |
| 2 | 2 | Josefa Idem | 1:50.466 | QS | |
| 2 | 3 | Petra Santy | 1:52.834 | QS | |
| 2 | 4 | Lucy Hardy | 1:54.518 | QS | |
| 2 | 5 | Michaela Strnadova | 1:55.806 | QS | |
| 2 | 6 | Yulia Borzova | 1:56.586 | QS | |
| 2 | 7 | Amanda Rankin | 1:56.678 | QS | |
| 2 | 8 | Sarce Aronggear | 2:03.790 | ||
| 3 | 1 | Marcela Erbanova | 1:53.508 | QF | |
| 3 | 2 | Aneta Pastuszka | 1:53.840 | QS | |
| 3 | 3 | Athina-Theodora Alexopoulou | 1:54.828 | QS | |
| 3 | 4 | Jenni Honkanen | 1:55.244 | QS | |
| 3 | 5 | Carrie Johnson | 1:57.708 | QS | |
| 3 | 6 | Olga Kostenko | 1:58.520 | QS | |
| 3 | 7 | Miyuki Shirata | 2:00.860 | QS |
Sergeyeva was disqualified for not keeping her boat in the automatic starting system, delaying the race start by five minutes. She was also disqualified for starting outside of the automatic starting system.
Semifinals
The top three finishers in each of the two semifinals qualified for the final. Fourth place and higher competitors were eliminated. The semifinals were raced on August 26.Pastuszka was disqualified for competing in an underweight boat.
Final
The final was raced on August 28.Janics, who switched her nationality from Serbia and Montenegro to Hungary three months before the 2004 Games, jumped to an early lead and then held off a late challenge from defending Olympic champion Idem.