Fanny Blankers-Koen

Fanny Blankers-Koen

Fanny Blankers-Koen in 1988
Personal information
Born	26 April 1918 Lage Vuursche, Netherlands
Died	25 January 2004 (aged 85) Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Club	Sagitta, Amsterdam; ADA, Amsterdam
Medal record Representing the  Netherlands Olympic Games 1948 London 100 m 1948 London 200 m 1948 London 80 m hurdles 1948 London 4x100 m relay European Championships 1946 Oslo 80 m hurdles 1946 Oslo 4 x 100 m relay 1950 Brussels 100 m 1950 Brussels 200 m 1950 Brussels 80 m hurdles 1950 Brussels 4x100 m relay 1938 Vienna 100 m 1938 Vienna 200 m

Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen (26 April 1918 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She accomplished this as a 30-year-old mother of two, during a time when many disregarded women's athletics. Her background and performances earned her the nickname "the Flying Housewife". She was the most successful athlete at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Having started competing in athletics in 1935, she took part in the 1936 Summer Olympics a year later. Although international competition was eliminated by World War II, Blankers-Koen set several world records during that period, in events as diverse as the long jump, the high jump, and sprint and hurdling events.

Apart from her four Olympic titles, she won five European titles and 58 Dutch championships, and set or tied 12 world records – the last, pentathlon, in 1951 aged 33. She retired from athletics in 1955, after which she became captain of the Dutch female track and field team. In 1999, she was voted "Female Athlete of the Century" by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Her Olympic victories are credited with helping to eliminate the belief that age and motherhood were a barrier to success in women's sport.

Blankers-Koen was born Francina Elsje Koen on 26 April 1918 in Lage Vuursche (near Baarn) to Arnoldus and Helena Koen. Her father was a government official who competed in the shot put and discus. She had five brothers. As a teenager, she enjoyed tennis, swimming, gymnastics, ice skating, fencing and running. Standing 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), she was a natural athlete. It soon became clear she was a sports talent, but she could not decide which sport to pick. A swimming coach advised her to do track because there were already several top swimmers in the Netherlands at that time (such as Rie Mastenbroek), and she would have a better chance to qualify for the Olympics in a track event.