RIO DE JANEIRO - Danuta KOZAK (HUN) has become the first female canoe sprint athlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games.

Before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, KOZAK was already one of the most-decorated paddlers of all time with two gold medals from the London 2012 Olympic Games and a silver from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, in addition to 10 world championship titles.

She now moves to second in the all-time leaderboard, behind only Birgit FISCHER (GER/GDR) who won eight gold and four silver medals during her career.

The demanding programme at the Lagoa Stadium meant KOZAK raced seven times over the six days of competition in the women's kayak single (K1) 500m, kayak double (K2) 500m and kayak four (K4) 500m.

"To take a medal in pretty much every Olympic event is absolutely spectacular," said fellow K4 finalist Jaimee LOVETT (NZL), describing KOZAK as a role model for all female athletes.

KOZAK's exploits helped put Hungary second in the canoe sprint medal table behind Germany, which won four golds, two silvers and bronze across the 12 events contested.

Sebastian BRENDEL (GER) won gold in both the canoe single (C1) and canoe double (C2) 1000m, and Max RENDSCHMIDT (GER) and Marcus GROSS (GER) were in both Germany's gold medal-winning K2 and K4 1000m crews.

Although KOZAK may have been the star for canoe sprint fans, there was no doubting the crowd's favourite.

Isaquias QUEIROZ DOS SANTOS (BRA) got the host nation's canoe sprint campaign off to a good start on Tuesday with silver behind BRENDEL in the C1 1000m and followed up with another silver and a bronze in the C2 1000m and C1 200m events.

In doing so he became the first Brazilian athlete in any discipline to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.

While many of the London 2012 Olympic Games champions were absent from Rio, the majority of those who did return retained their titles. In addition to KOZAK and BRENDEL, Lisa CARRINGTON (NZL) won the women's K1 200m for the second time and Iurii CHEBAN (UKR) retained the C1 200m title.

The exceptions were in the men's K4 1000m, where Germany took Australia's London 2012 Olympic Games crown, and in the women's K2 500m, with London 2012 Olympic Games champions Tina DIETZE (GER) and Franziska WEBER (GER) relegated to second behind KOZAK.

In all 19 countries shared out the medals on offer at Lagoa Stadium.