London, 1948. A thirty-year-old woman, a mother of two, steps up to the starting blocks. The British athletics manager, Jack Crump, had already said she was «too old to make the grade». Part of the Dutch press argued she should stay at home and look after her children. Her name was Fanny Blankers-Koen.
At those Games she won four gold medals: in the 100 metres, the 200 metres, the 80 metres hurdles and the 4×100 relay. She was the first woman to win four golds at a single Olympics, and the press dubbed her «the Flying Housewife». Over her career she set world records in eight different events.
Her story did not come from nowhere. At 18 she had already been to the Berlin Games of 1936, where she finished fifth in the high jump and fifth with the relay. There she got Jesse Owens’s autograph, which she kept as her most treasured possession. Then came the war and family: Jan in 1942, Fanneke in 1945. It took twelve years to return to the Olympic stage. Her talent had not expired: it had been waiting.
Back in Amsterdam she found an immense crowd and rode through the city on a carriage pulled by four white horses. Queen Juliana made her a knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau. In 1999 the world athletics federation voted her «Female Athlete of the Century», and in 2012 she entered its Hall of Fame.
What does a story like this leave us? Let us stay cautious: she was a champion of extraordinary talent, and not everything is possible for everyone. But the point is not «anything goes». The point is that limits set by others, about age or about the role we are supposed to have, do not necessarily coincide with our own. Before accepting a «you are too…» it is worth testing it in practice, perhaps with one small step.
Try thinking about it today: which phrase like «it’s not your time» or «it’s not for you» was said to you and stayed with you? Tell me in the comments: I bet you are not the only one.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica, «Fanny Blankers-Koen». britannica.com
- Wikipedia, «Fanny Blankers-Koen». en.wikipedia.org
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