Her Olympic victories are credited with helping to eliminate the belief that age and motherhood were barriers to success in women's sport.

A swimming coach advised her to concentrate on running because there were already several top swimmers in the Netherlands at that time (such as Rie Mastenbroek), and she would have a better chance to qualify for the Olympics in a track event.

[3] Her first competition was a disappointment, but in her third race, she set a national record in the 800 m. Fanny Koen soon made the Dutch team, although as a sprinter, not a middle-distance runner.

At that time, 800 m was generally considered too physically demanding for female contestants, and had been removed from the Olympic programme after 1928.

Just prior to the invasion, Koen had become engaged, and on 29 August 1940, she married Jan Blankers (who was fifteen years her senior), thereupon changing her name to Blankers-Koen.

[7] When Blankers-Koen gave birth to her first child, Jan Junior, in 1942,[8] Dutch media automatically assumed her career would be over.

[9] During the war, domestic competition in sports continued in the German-occupied Netherlands, and Blankers-Koen set six new world records between 1942 and 1944.

First, she improved the high jump record by an unequalled 5 cm from 1.66 m to 1.71 m in a specially arranged competition in Amsterdam on 30 May.

She gave birth to a daughter, Fanneke, in 1945 and in contrast to her previous post-birth activities, took seven months off from sport and only undertook limited training.

The second day was more successful, as she won the 80 m hurdles event, and led the Dutch relay team to victory in the 4 × 100 m. As the leading female athlete in the Netherlands – in 1947 she won national titles in six women's events – Blankers-Koen was assured of a place on the Dutch team for the first post-war Olympics, held in London.

After her experience in Oslo, she decided not to take part in all events, but limit herself to four: she dropped the high jump and long jump to concentrate on the 100 m, the 200 m, the 80 m hurdles, and the 4 × 100 m relay (competition rules also prevented an athlete from competing in more than three individual track and field events[2]).

[5] Many in the Netherlands were concerned for the welfare of the family, saying that she should stay at home to look after her children, not compete in athletics events.

Blankers-Koen sped to the finish line in 11.9, easily beating her opponents Dorothy Manley and Shirley Strickland, who took second and third.

When the British national anthem was played, the crowd in Wembley Stadium cheered, and Blankers-Koen briefly thought she had been beaten.

Examination of the finish photo clearly showed that not Gardner, but Blankers-Koen had won, although both received the same time (11.2 seconds).

In spite of her successes, Blankers-Koen nearly failed to start in the semi-finals of the 200 m, held the day after the hurdles final.

[14] After a long talk with her husband, she decided to run anyway, and qualified for the final with great ease.

In spite of a careful and slow exchange, she caught up with the leaders, crossing the line a tenth of a second before the Australian woman.

[15] Fanny Blankers-Koen won four of the nine women's events at the 1948 Olympics,[14] competing in eleven heats and finals in eight days.

However, a fortnight after the 1948 Olympics, she entertained 35,000 spectators by equalling her 100m world record of 10.8 seconds on Lansdowne Road’s “heavy grass track”[16] Also, in 1949, she travelled abroad to promote women's athletics, flying to Australia and the United States.

Most of the other women on the team at the time suspect it was an attempt by Blankers and Blankers-Koen to eliminate an opponent, although this has never been confirmed.

"[2][4] In the years prior to her death, Blankers-Koen suffered from Alzheimer's disease and lived in a psychiatric nursing home.

A year before her death, the first biography of Blankers-Koen was published, Een koningin met mannenbenen (A Queen with Men's Legs) by journalist Kees Kooman.

During her successful years, Dutch and international media portrayed her as the perfect mother (hence her nickname "the flying housewife"), who was modest about her own achievements.

[22] Kooman's book portrays Blankers-Koen in a different light, as a woman who found it difficult to show affection and who was driven by a desire to win.

[25] She was among the women included in the 1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis, a dictionary of biography covering 1001 important Dutchwomen.

Several locations have been named in her honour, including Blankers-Koen Park in Newington, New South Wales, the location of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Village, a fire station in Amsterdam (Fanny Blankers-Koenkazerne), a multisport stadium in Hengelo (Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadium), a sports park in Almere (FBK-sportpark), and a sports hall in Hoofddorp where she lived (Fanny Blankers-Koen hal).