Know your Olympics - London Olympics 1948

Fanny Blanker-Koen, a mother who ran for Gold -

Fanny Koen, the 'Flying Housewife'

Until the Berlin Olympics, the quadrennial event wasn't well known for famous women athletes. Barring a few exceptions like Helen Stephens, Betty Robinson etc., there were not many women athletes to talk about.

However, at the London Games, one woman broke that myth. Her name was Fanny Blanker-Koen. The mother-of-two, a Dutch runner, competed at the Berlin Games, but wasn't much successful.

At the London Olympics, however, she had a different story. She channelized her inner Jesse Owens, an athlete she adulated and admired. She chose to compete in four events at the London Olympics - the 100m, the 200m, the 80m hurdles, and the 4×100m relay.

Apart from facing professional challenges, Fanny faced the usual media jibes as well. Some journalists questioned her, suggesting 30 years was too old for a woman to be an athlete. The then British athletics team's manager, Jack Crump, opined that she was "too old to make the grade."

However, Fanny Koen decided to let her performance do the talking. She won all the events she participated in.

The very media, that had written her down and out, was now singing praises for her. Fanny was dubbed "The Flying Housewife", "The Flying Dutchman", and "Amazing Fanny" by the international press. She was welcomed back home in Amsterdam by an immense crowd, and taken for a grand ride.