Fanny Blankers-Koen running at the 1948 London Olympics (© Getty Images)
Four times Olympic champion and female athlete of the century Fanny Blankers-Koen was brought to her last resting place today in the presence of several hundreds of mourners at Hoofddorp about 20 kilometres from Amsterdam.
At the ceremony in the local Hoofdvaart church were President Lamine Diack and General Secretary Istvan Gyulai who represented the IAAF, National Olympic Committee President Erica Terpstra, Els van Breda on behalf of the IOC, EAA Vice-President Agoston Schulek, and Mrs. Clemens Ross-van Dorp for the Dutch government.
In this same church the then Fanny Koen was married to her coach Jan Blankers in 1940.
Martin van Rooijen, President of the Royal Dutch Athletic Federation, spoke in high esteem of Fanny Blankers-Koen: “As an athlete she was strong and graceful, a beautiful and rare combination. She was also many-sided and above all very ambitious, in short, a top athlete. Fanny believed unconditionally in her coach Jan Blankers, her later husband of whom she often said 'without Jan I would not have achieved what I did.' Exceptional for those days was her professional training approach.’’
Van Rooijen also brought back the memory that she scored her four gold medals at the 1948 London Olympics when she was a 30 year-old mother of a son and daughter.
“Probably she could have won six gold medals at London if the programme had also allowed her to start in the High and Long Jump event.’’
Van Rooijen spoke of the joy Fanny Blankers-Koen's success gave to her country after five years of World War II.
Smiles were brought to the faces of the assembled mourners as Van Rooijen also recited Fanny Blankers-Koen words just before she was chosen as the female athlete of the century in 1999 - "What do they want with a crazy old women like me? They will take somebody who is younger and more attractive than me. That is better for TV.”
Another memory Martin van Rooijen recounted was of 28 April 1993 when he had brought Fanny Blankers-Koen back to Wembley stadium, the site of her 1948 Olympic triumphs.
"As President of the Dutch Football Association's professional league I invited Fanny for the football game, England versus Holland. It was the 28th April two days after her 75th birthday. To the warm welcome of the spectators, Fanny walked out into a sold-out Wembley stadium where she had won Olympic gold 45 years earlier. I had the honour to accompany her on that walk."
Also in the attendance at today's service were Dutch Olympic champions Ada Kok (swimming), Ria Stalman (Discus) and Ellen van Langen (800m), while Nelli Cooman, the former double World Indoor 60m champion also gave a short address.
Moving words were also heard from Xenia Bijleveld (then Stad)-de Jong, one of Fanny Blankers-Koen’s 1948 Olympic gold medal winning 4x100m Relay team-mates, who spoke on behalf of the other two members of the squad, Netty Witziers-Timmer and Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs, who were unable to attend the ceremony.
”I remember how as the lead-off athlete I looked back on the track to Fanny knowing she could bring us gold. Then she did that tremendous last leg. We had won. Four housewives and mothers from Holland had done it. We had astonished the world. On the rostrum we heard our national anthem. For Nelly, Gerda and me it was the first time. For Fanny it had already played three times.’’
Fanny Blankers-Koen is buried at the Algemene Begraafplaats at Hoofddorp.
