Fanny Blankers-Koen defied conventions and blazed a pathway for women’s sport when she swept to four golds at the 1948 Olympics as a 30-yea...
Fanny Blankers-Koen defied conventions and blazed a pathway for women’s sport when she swept to four golds at the 1948 Olympics as a 30-year-old mother of two.
After making her Games debut in 1936 at the age of 18 – where she approached Jesse Owens for an autograph, one of her most treasured possessions – the Dutch marvel’s Olympic career was put on hold by World War II.
In 1936, she tied for the sixth place in the high jump and was part of the 4x100m relay.
By the time the Olympics returned in London in 1948, and despite living for six years under German occupation near Amsterdam, Blankers-Koen held six world records – in the 100 yards, the 80-metre hurdles, the high jump, the long jump and in two relays.
Any doubts about a mother’s suitability to compete were erased when she won every event she entered – the 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles and 4x100m relay.
“One newspaperman wrote that I was too old to run, that I should stay at home and take care of my children,” she told the New York Times in 1982.
“When I got to London, I pointed my finger at him and I said: ‘I show you’.”
And show she did.
Fanny Blankers-Koen factfile
- Olympic Medals: 4 Gold
- Games participations:...
