“I received a lot of letters from people writing that I should stay at home with my children and that I shouldn’t be allowed to race on the track with, how can I say that? , shorts. What’s more, a journalist wrote that I was too old to run and that I should stay home to take care of my children.”
This is part of the journalistic testimony given in 1982 by the legendary Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen.
By then, more than 35 years had passed since her memorable performance at the London Olympic Games in which, against most odds, she won gold medals in 100 and 200 meters, 80 meters with hurdles and the 4x100 relay.
She achieved this by shattering several prejudices: That her best days had been during the Berlin Games in which she was only fifth in the relay and jumped high. That in no way could a 30-year-old woman seriously face High Performance.
That someone who had been a mother two years earlier could not regain athletic form. Much less who, at the time of competing, had been pregnant for three months.
Prejudice and underestimation of women’s physical capacity is a subject that is all too well known. It even sounds grotesque that it was only 36 years after the Dutch woman’s feat that the marathon and the 3000 meters were included in the women’s athletic program.
The denial in the matter was so strong that not even Fanny´s achievement opened eyes: many people with decision-making power consider it an exception, a rare warning.
A few years ago, the organizers of several professional tennis tournaments included something similar to a kindergarten in their logistics tools.
It originally happened in men’s or mixed tournaments such as the Grand Slams. The logic and prejudice of the time established that the assistance was for the male tennis player, accompanied by a wife and children. Hardly anyone imagined this scenario to take care of female tennis players during competitive times who would share their role as a mother with that of a world-class athlete.
It is now commonplace to see children in the stands enjoying their moms’ performances.
So much so that today, at the recently started Australian Open, there are eight mothers in action in the main draw.
From Uzbek gymnast Oxana Chousovitina to American soccer player Alex Morgan, who once interrupted a press conference during a World Cup to say good night to her daughter via FaceTime.
They, the tennis players of today and many of those who will populate the Olympic Village in Paris are a true involuntary and belated tribute to the extraordinary epic of the enormous Fanny.
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