ATHLETICS: Fanny Blankers-Koen, the Dutchwoman who won a record four gold medals at the 1948 Olympics in London, died yesterday at the age of 85. She had been suffering from poor health and Alzheimer's.
Last June she failed to attend the FBK games, an event named in her honour in a stadium in Hengelo dedicated to her.
"The whole athletics world mourns the parting of this great ambassador for our sport whose career feats have yet to be matched, a fact which was reflected in her election in 1999 as the greatest female athlete of the 20th century," said Lamine Diack, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Blankers-Koen, then 81 and slightly deaf, collected her award at a ceremony in Monte Carlo along with the male winner, Carl Lewis, and was genuinely astonished when she was told she had won.
"You mean it is me who has won?" she turned and asked Lewis in front of a packed press conference. "I had no idea. When I think of all the great women athletes of this century and the young people who are doing so well, I must say that I am surprised but quite pleased as well."
She may have looked like your elderly grandmother by then but the achievements of Blankers-Koen are stitched indelibly into the rich tapestry of Olympic history. She had dominated those London Games like no woman before or since has dominated any Games
Over the seven days at Wembley Stadium, she won the 100 metres, the 80 metres hurdles, the 200 metres and the 4x100 despite having been written off by many who did not believe a mother could still compete at the highest level.
She might have won even more gold medals in the high jump and long jump but the rules at the time prevented her from entering more than four events.
"Oh, I didn't complain because I was very happy," she said many years later. "And anyway I wanted to get back to Holland to see my children."
London was the highlight of an outstanding career in which she also set 20 world records and won five European titles.
Upon her return from England, the city of Amsterdam presented Blankers-Koen - nicknamed the Flying Dutchwoman - with a new bicycle in recognition of her achievements. When Marion Jones won two gold medals and two bronzes at the 2000 Olympics, Nike rewarded her with a new $15-million sponsorship contract.
"Oh but she's very good, isn't she?" replied Blankers-Koen when I pointed out the anomaly to her during an interview in 2001.
That interview was interrupted when Blankers-Koen announced she had to go out to the shops for some exercise. But when she called back an hour later she warmed to her theme.
"When I competed no one ever thought it would be possible to make money from doing something you enjoyed so much," she said. "I had to live through the second world war when the Nazis invaded my country. There were times when I never thought I would compete again.
"I have no regrets because I have my memories and they are worth all the money in the world as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, that bicycle was very good - it lasted me for many years."
Guardian Service
