Fanny Blankers-Koen

Francina ("Fanny") Elsje Blankers-Koen (Lage Vuursche, 26 April 1918 – Hoofddorp, 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."

Having started competing in athletics in 1935, she took part in the 1936 Summer Olympics a year later. Although international competition was hampered 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).

Early life

Blankers-Koen was born Francina Elsje Koen 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"6", 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.

Her first appearance in the sport was in 1935, aged 17.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/3427787.stm|title=Winner against all odds|publisher=BBC News Online|first=Alex|last=Trickett|date=2004-01-25|accessdate=2007-02-05] Her first competition was a disappointment, but in her third race, she set a national record in the 800 m. Fanny Koen soon made the Dutch team, although as a sprinter, not a middle distance runner. At that time, 800 m was generally considered too physically demanding for female contestants, and had been removed from the Olympic programme after 1928. The following year, her coach and future husband, Jan Blankers, a former Olympic triple-jumper, encouraged her to enter the trials for the 1936 Olympic in Berlin. Only eighteen years old, she was selected to compete in the high jump and the 4 × 100 m relay.

At the Berlin Olympics, the high jump and the 4 × 100 m relay competitions were held on the same day. In the high jump, she took fifth place (shared with two other jumpers) while the Dutch relay team came in fifth in the final (the sixth team in the final, Germany, was disqualified). She also gained the autograph of American athlete Jesse Owens; it became her most treasured possession.cite news|title=Fanny Blankers-Koen|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,641874,00.html|Fanny Blankers-Koen|publisher=The Observer|date=2003-02-03|accessdate=2007-02-05]

Slowly, Koen rose to the top. In 1938, she ran her first world record (11.0 seconds in the 100 yards), and she also won her first international medals. At the European Championships in Vienna, she won the bronze in both the 100 and 200 m, which were both won by Stanisława Walasiewicz. Many observers, and Koen herself, expected her to do well at the upcoming Olympics, which were due to be held in Helsinki in July 1940.

However, the outbreak of World War II put a stop to the preparations. The Olympics were formally cancelled on 2 May 1940, a week before the Netherlands was invaded.

World War II

Just prior to the invasion, Koen had become engaged, and on 29 August 1940, she married Jan Blankers, thereby changing her name to Blankers-Koen. Blankers, a former triple jumper (participant in the 1928 Olympics) was a sports journalist and the coach of the Dutch women's athletics team, even though he originally thought women should not compete in sports—not an unusual opinion at the time. However, his attitude towards female athletes changed after he fell in love with Koen, cite book | author=Kooman, Kees | title=Een koningin met mannenbenen | location=Amsterdam | publisher=L.J. Veen | year=2003 | isbn=90-204-0820-8 | oclc=56809653] who was fifteen years younger than he was.

When Blankers-Koen gave birth to her first child Jan Junior in 1941, Dutch media automatically assumed her career would be over. Top female athletes who were married were rare at the time, and it was considered inconceivable that a mother would be an athlete. Blankers-Koen and her husband had other plans, and she resumed training only weeks after her son's birth.

During war time, Blankers-Koen would set six new world records. The first came in 1942, when she improved the world mark in the 80 m hurdles. The following year, she did even better. First, she improved the high jump record by an unequalled 5 cm from 1.66 m to 1.71 m in a specially arranged competition in Amsterdam on May 30. [cite web | title = World Records for High Jump (Women) | work = World Records | publisher = Cleave Books | url = http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/databank/worldrec/whjump.htm | accessdate =2008-02-19 ] Then, she tied the 100 m world record, but this was never recognised officially, as she competed against men when setting the record. She closed out the season with a new world record in the long jump, 6.25 m on September 19, 1943. The latter record would last until 1954.

Circumstances were not easy, and it got more difficult to get enough food, especially for an athlete in training. Despite this, Blankers-Koen managed to break the convert|100|yd|abbr=on world record in May 1944. At the same meet, she ran with the relay team that broke the 4 × convert|110|yd|abbr=on world record. The German press was excited, as the record had previously been owned by an English team. Months later, she helped break the 4 × 200 m record, which was held by Germany. In an act of defiance, the women wore outfits with national symbols while setting the record.

The winter of 1944–1945, known as the "Hongerwinter" (hunger winter), was severe, and there was a great lack of food, especially in the big cities. Sport was the last thing on people's minds, and the Blankers family, living in Amsterdam, was happy to make it through the war in good health.

"The Flying Housewife"

The first major international event after the war were the 1946 European Championships, held in Oslo, Norway. Six weeks before the Championships, Blankers-Koen gave birth to Fanny Junior, but this had not stopped her from resuming training shortly afterwards. The Championships were a slight disappointment. In the 100 m semi-finals, held during the high jump final, she fell and failed to qualify for the final. She ended the high jump competition in fourth, with bruises from the fall. The second day was more successful, as she won the 80 m hurdles event, and led the Dutch relay team to victory in the 4 × 100 m.

As the leading athlete in the Netherlands—in 1947 she won national titles in 6 events—Blankers-Koen was assured of a place on the Dutch team for the first post-war Olympics, held at Wembley Stadium in west London. After her experience in Oslo, she decided not to take part in all events, but limit herself to four: she dropped the high jump and long jump to concentrate on the 100 m, the 200 m, the 80 m hurdles, and the 4 × 100 m relay (competition rules also prevented an athlete from competing in more than three individual track and field events [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040127/ai_n9689782 Obituary] , "The Independent", 27 January 2004. Retrieved on 2007-02-05] ). Although she displayed her form two months before the Games by beating her own 80 m hurdles world record—one of the six world records that she held at that time—some journalists questioned her, suggesting 30 years was too old for a woman to be an athlete. The British athletics team's manager, Jack Crump, claimed that she was "too old to make the grade." Many in the Netherlands also said that she should stay at home to look after her children, not compete in athletics events.

Her first competition was the 100 m, and she qualified easily for the semi-finals, in which she set the fastest time. The final (2 August) was held on a muddy track and in rainy conditions. Blankers-Koen sped to the finish line in 11.9, easily beating her opponents Dorothy Manley and Shirley Strickland, who took second and third.

Fanny Blankers-Koen thereby became the first Dutch athlete to win an Olympic title in athletics, but she was more concerned with her next event, the 80 m hurdles. Her chief opponent was Maureen Gardner, also coached by Blankers-Koen's husband and who had equalled Blankers's world record prior to the Games, and would be running for her home crowd. Both athletes made the final, in which Blankers-Koen got off to a bad start (she would later claim she thought there had been a false start). She picked up the pace quickly, but was unable to shake off Gardner, who kept close until the finish line, and the two finished almost simultaneously. When the British national anthem was played, the crowd in Wembley Stadium cheered, and Blankers-Koen briefly thought she had been beaten. However, the anthem was played in honour of the British royal family, which entered the stadium at that time. Examination of the finish photo clearly showed that not Gardner, but Blankers-Koen had won, although both received the same time (11.2).

In spite of her successes, Blankers-Koen nearly failed to start in the semi-finals of the 200 m, held the day after hurdles final. Shortly before the semi-final, she broke down because of home-sickness.cite news|title= Athletics: Only the 'Athlete of the Century' beat Williamson to gold|url=http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/article76366.ece|first=Mike|last=Rowbottom|publisher=The Independent|date=2004-01-31|accessdate=2007-02-05] After a long talk by her husband, she decided to run anyway, and qualified for the final with great ease. The final, on 6 August, was again held in the pouring rain, but Blankers-Koen completed the inaugural Olympic 200 m for women in 24.4, seven tenths of a second ahead of runner-up Audrey Williamson—still the largest margin of victory in an Olympic 200 m final. Audrey Patterson, the first African American woman to win an Olympic medal placed in third, although a finish photo discovered decades later indicates Shirley Strickland should have won the bronze.

The 4 × 100 m final was held on the final day of the track and field competitions. The Dutch team, consisting of Xenia Stad-de Jong, Netty Witziers-Timmer, Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs and Blankers-Koen qualified for the final, but just before the final, Blankers-Koen was missing. She had gone out to shop for a rain coat, and arrived just in time for the race. As the last runner, she took over the baton in third place, some five meters behind Australia and Canada. In spite of a careful and slow exchange, she caught up with the leaders, crossing the line a tenth before the Australian women.

Fanny Blankers-Koen won four of the nine women's events at the 1948 Olympics, competing in 11 heats and finals in 8 days. She was the first woman to win four Olympic gold medals, and the first one to do so in a single Olympics.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/3427741.stm|title=Blankers-Koen dies|publisher=BBC News Online|date=2004-01-25|accessdate=2007-02-05] As of 2007, no other track and field athlete has won more medals in a single Olympics, although Alvin Kraenzlein (1900), Jesse Owens (1936) and Carl Lewis (1984) have also won four gold medals in one Olympics. Dubbed the "Flying Housewife", and "Amazing Fanny" by the international press, she was welcomed back home in Amsterdam by an immense crowd. After a ride through the city, pulled by four white horses, she received a lot of praise and gifts. From the city of Amsterdam, she received a new bicycle: "to go through life at a slower pace" and "so she need not run so much". Queen Juliana made her a knight of the Order of Orange Nassau.

After London

Now known all over the world, Blankers-Koen received many offers for endorsements, advertisements, publicity stunts and the like. Because of the strict amateurism rules in force at the time, she had to turn most offers down. However, in 1949, she travelled abroad to promote women's athletics, flying to Australia and the United States. It later became clear that she had competed in London while pregnant when her third child was born in early 1949.

A darker episode in Blankers-Koen's life occurred in 1950. A year earlier, a new Dutch sprint talent, Foekje Dillema had made her breakthrough. In 1950, she broke the national record in the 200 m, and some journalists already dubbed her as the "new Fanny". With four other girls Foekje was sent to a gynecologist and Dillema was expelled from atletics for the rest of her life. She never spoke publicly on the subject. Dillema died in December 2007. The results of the medical examination were never published. Most of the other women on the team at the time suspect it was an attempt by Jan and Fanny Blankers to eliminate an opponent, although this has never been confirmed.

The same year, she almost repeated her Olympic performance at the European Championships in Brussels. She won the titles in the 100 m, 200 m and 80 m hurdles all with large margins of victory (four tenths or more), but narrowly missed out on a fourth win in the relay, which was won by the British team.

At age 34, she took part in her third Olympics, which were held in Helsinki. Although she was in good shape, she was severely hampered by a skin boil. She qualified for the 100 m semi-finals, but forfeited a start to save herself for the hurdles race. She reached the final in that event, but after knocking over the second hurdle, she abandoned the race. It was her last major competition. On 7 August 1955, Fanny Blankers-Koen was victorious for the last time, winning the national title in the shot put, her 58th Dutch title.

Later life

After her athletic career, Blankers-Koen served as the team leader of the Dutch athletics team, from the 1958 European Championships to the 1968 Summer Olympics.

In 1977, her husband Jan died. It forced her, often dependent on Jan Blankers, to become more independent. Some years after his death, she moved back to her old hometown Hoofddorp. In 1981, the "Fanny Blankers-Koen Games" an international athletics event, were established. They are still held annually in Hengelo.

Fanny Blankers-Koen's last moment of glory came in 1999. At a gala in Monaco, organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), she was declared the "Female Athlete of the Century". She was very surprised to have won, audibly asking "You mean it is me who has won?" [http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=23914.html Obituary] , from the IAAF, 25 January 2004. Retrieved 9 February 2007.]

In the years prior to her death, she suffered from Alzheimer's disease and lived in a psychiatric nursing home. She was also deaf. She died at age 85 in Hoofddorp on 25 January 2004.

A year before her death, the first biography of Blankers-Koen was published, "Een koningin met mannenbenen" (A Queen with men's legs) by journalist Kees Kooman). Through many interviews with relatives, friends and contemporary athletes, it paints a previously unknown picture of her. During her successful years, Dutch and international media portrayed her as the perfect mother (hence her nickname "The Flying Housewife"), who was very modest about her own achievements.cite web|url=http://www.geschiedenis.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=175&Itemid=149|title=Vliegende huisvrouw|last=Karsmakers|first=Paul|publisher=Geschiedenis.nl|date=2004-09-08|accessdate=2007-02-13|language=Dutch] Kooman's book portrays Fanny Blankers-Koen in a different light, a woman who found it difficult to show affection and most of all always wanted to win. Blankers-Koen and her husband had also written an autobiography in 1949.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* [http://www.fbk-games.nl/ Site of the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games]
* [http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/profiles/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=79842 Profile] from the Olympic Movement