AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Olympic funny moments11/7/2023 At that time, 800 m was generally considered too physically demanding for female contestants, and had been removed from the Olympic programme after 1928. Fanny Koen soon made the Dutch team, although as a sprinter, not a middle-distance runner. Her first competition was a disappointment, but in her third race, she set a national record in the 800 m. Her first appearance in the sport was in 1935, aged 17. A swimming coach advised her to concentrate on running 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. It soon became clear she had a talent for sports, but she could not decide which sport to pick. Standing 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in), she was a natural athlete. As a teenager, she enjoyed tennis, swimming, gymnastics, ice skating, fencing and running. Her father was a government official who competed in the shot put and discus. Early life įanny Koen was born on 26 April 1918 in Lage Vuursche (near Baarn) to Arnoldus and Helena Koen. Her Olympic victories are credited with helping to eliminate the belief that age and motherhood were barriers to success in women's sport. In 1999, she was voted "Female Athlete of the Century" by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). She retired from athletics in 1955, after which she became captain of the Dutch female track and field team. ![]() Although international competition was stopped 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.Īpart 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. Having started competing in athletics in 1935, she took part in the 1936 Summer Olympics a year later. ![]() She 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. Francina Elsje " Fanny" Blankers-Koen ( Dutch: 26 April 1918 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |