The Flying Housewife With the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo cancelled, we look back at the greatest female Olympian of the 20th century.
by Richard Martinovich
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F
rancina Koen was 18 years-old when she scored her most-cherished prize, an autograph from the hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens. “Fanny” Koen was in Berlin competing for the Holland “athletics” -- track and field -- team in the high jump and 4 x100-meter women’s relay. Though she did not medal in an event, she performed well enough to show great potential. Francina Eslje Koen was born in 1918 in the village of Lage Vuursche, the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. With four brothers, Fanny was active in a variety of sports growing up. Fanny won the 800 meter run at the Dutch championship in 1935 before switching to the sprints for the Olympic Games in 1936. The 800 meters was deemed too strenuous for women and was dropped after the 1928 Olympics, but the 200 meter sprint was added.
d.i.s. Magazine
