Fanny Blankers-Koen

Fanny Blankers-Koen was a Dutch track and field athlete who, at the 1948 London Olympics, won four gold medals, in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 80 meter hurdles and 4x100 meter relay, at age thirty and as the mother of two young children, a feat that earned her the nickname "The Flying Housewife" in the press of the time. She competed at those Games despite widespread contemporary skepticism that a mother in her thirties could remain a top competitive athlete, and her performance is still regarded as one of the defining moments in the history of women's Olympic athletics. She had set world records in several events even before the war interrupted her competitive career, including the Olympics of 1936 and 1940 that were canceled or that she did not attend in her prime years, making her 1948 achievement in some assessments an even more remarkable comeback. Blankers-Koen was later voted the female athlete of the twentieth century by the International Association of Athletics Federations, and she remains a lasting symbol of the expansion of serious competitive opportunity for women in international sport.