Early Life
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 6 in (1.68 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.
Her first appearance in the sport was in 1935, aged 17. 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, nl: Jan Blankers, a former Olympic triple-jumper, encouraged her to enter the trials for the 1936 Olympics 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.
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.
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