Fanny Blankers-Koen

Francina Elsje Koen known as Fanny Blankers-Koen (Baarn, April 26, 1918-Hoofddorp, January 25, 2004) was a Dutch athlete. At the 1948 London Olympics, she managed to get on the podium in the 100 and 200-meter dash, the 80-meter hurdles and the 4x100-meter relay. She was 30 years old and was the first female mother and with three months of pregnancy medalist in the Olympics. She is considered a source of inspiration for several generations of female athletes, and in 2012 she was named the most important and famous athlete of the 20th century.

Biography

His first sport was swimming and he only turned to track and field at the age of seventeen. A year later, her coach, Jan Blankers, encouraged her to enter the Dutch Olympic team; she participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, where she obtained two fifth places, in height and 4 x 100. In 1938 she took the bronze medal in the 100 meters at the European Athletics Championships. The 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were canceled due to World War II. In 1946, a few weeks after giving birth to her first child, she won European gold in the 80m hurdles.

At the 1948 London Olympics, he won four gold medals: in the 100 and 200 meters, the 80 meter hurdles, and the 4 x 100 meter relay.

During his sporting career, he broke twenty world records in sprint and hurdle races, in the high and long jump, and in the pentathlon.

Olympic mother and medalist

She was the first woman to win four gold medals in the Olympics (London 1948) at the age of 30, being the mother of two children and three months pregnant.

"I got a lot of bad letters, with people writing that I should stay home with my kids and that I shouldn't be allowed to run on the track in, how shall I say, shorts", recalled Blankers-Koen, in an interview with the New York Times in 1982. Also "A journalist wrote that I was too old to run and that I should stay home to take care of my children".

He continued to be active and participated in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, retiring at the age of 37.

Among his most recognized phrases: "All this, for running a few meters" (when receiving a bicycle for winning four gold medals at the 1948 London Olympics).

Poshumous awards

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth on April 26, 2018, Google paid tribute to him as a benchmark in the fight against gender and age prejudices in sport.