Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
22 Facts About Fanny Blankers-Koen
2.
Fanny Blankers-Koen competed there as a 30-year-old mother of two, earning her the nickname "the Flying Housewife", and was the most successful athlete at the event.
3.
Fanny Blankers-Koen retired from athletics in 1955, after which she became captain of the Dutch female track and field team.
4.
Fanny Blankers-Koen Koen was born on 26 April 1918 in Lage Vuursche to Arnoldus and Helena Koen.
5.
Fanny Blankers-Koen's father was a government official who competed in the shot put and discus.
6.
Fanny Blankers-Koen gained the autograph of American athlete Jesse Owens; it became her most treasured possession.
7.
When Fanny Blankers-Koen gave birth to her first child, Jan Junior, in 1942, Dutch media automatically assumed her career would be over.
8.
Fanny Blankers-Koen gave birth to a daughter, Fanneke, in 1945 and in contrast to her previous post-birth activities she took seven months off from sport and only undertook limited training.
9.
Fanny Blankers-Koen sped to the finish line in 11.9, easily beating her opponents Dorothy Manley and Shirley Strickland, who took second and third.
10.
Fanny Blankers-Koen 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.
11.
Examination of the finish photo clearly showed that not Gardner, but Fanny Blankers-Koen had won, although both received the same time.
12.
Fanny Blankers-Koen had gone out to shop for a raincoat, and arrived just in time for the race.
13.
Fanny Blankers-Koen won four of the nine women's events at the 1948 Olympics, competing in eleven heats and finals in eight days.
14.
Fanny Blankers-Koen was the first woman to win four Olympic gold medals, and achieved the feat in a single Olympics.
15.
Now known all over the world, Fanny Blankers-Koen received many offers for endorsements, advertisements, publicity stunts, and the like.
16.
Fanny Blankers-Koen had been chosen the 1948 Helms Athletic Foundation World Trophy Winner for Europe, and in 1949 she travelled to Los Angeles to compete in the Los Angeles Coliseum Relays.
17.
Fanny Blankers-Koen reached the final in that event, but after knocking over the second hurdle, she abandoned the race.
18.
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.
19.
Fanny Blankers-Koen died at age 85 in Hoofddorp on 25 January 2004.
20.
Fanny Blankers-Koen had previously written an autobiography in 1949 with help from her husband.
21.
Fanny Blankers-Koen was among the women included in the 1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis, a dictionary of biography covering 1001 important Dutchwomen.
22.
Fanny Blankers-Koen was honoured with a Google Doodle on 26 April 2018, on what would have been her 100th birthday.