Fanny Blankers-Koen - "The Flying Housewife"

"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). 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 (11.2s).

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 homesickness. 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 raincoat, 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. As of 2007, no other track and field athlete has won more gold 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", "the flying Dutchmam", 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.