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Biography of Fanny Blankers-KoenName: Fanny Blankers-KoenBirth Date: April 26, 1918 Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: Amsterdam, Netherlands Nationality: Dutch Gender: Female Occupations: track and field athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen Fanny Blankers-Koen (born 1918) was known as the "first queen of women's Olympics." She remains the first and only woman ever to win four gold medals at a single Olympics. When Blankers-Koen began her sports career, Norman Giller noted in The 1984 Olympic Handbook, "women's athletics had been something of a sideshow.... She, more than anybody, made women athletes worthy of respect and attention, with a series of stunning performances in the London Olympics."Fanny Blankers-Koen was born Francina Elsje Koen, the daughter of a government inspector in the Dutch city of Amsterdam in 1918. Her talent in sports was evident from a very young age. Blankers-Koen came from an athletic family that encouraged her to swim, skate, and play tennis. When she was six, she joined a local sports club, where she became known as an excellent runner and swimmer. When Blankers-Koen was 14, her father encouraged her to specialize in track and …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…and athletic vigor. She plays tennis almost every day. Further Reading For the Record: Women in Sports, edited by Robert Markell, World Almanac Publications, 1985.Giller, Norman,The 1984 Olympic Handbook, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983.The Women's Sports Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Markell, Henry Holt and Co., 1997.Woolum, Janet Outstanding Women Athletes: Who They Are and How They Influenced Sports in America, Oryx Press, 1992."Fanny Blankers-Koen," IAAF Legends, http://www.iaaf.org/Athletes/Legends/BlankersKoen.html (November 9, 1999)."Fifty Years Ago, Blankers-Koen Was Pure Gold," Nando.net, http;//www.sportserver.com/newsroom/ap/0...the/mor/feat/archive/022398/mor25435.html (November 9, 1999)."From Runner's World," Running After Childbirth, http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~csc/runmom.html (November 9, 1999)."Grace Under Pressure--Four Times Over," Olympic Daily Flashback, http://cnnsi.com/events/1996/olympics/daily/aug1/flashback.html (November 9, 1999)."Pacesetters: A Century of the Best," www.theage.com, http://www.theage.com.au/daily/980727/sport/sport9.html (November 9, 1999). |