Which athlete won four track-and-field gold medals at the 1948 London Olympics?

Fanny Blankers-Koen won four track-and-field gold medals at the 1948 London Olympics.

The Dutch athlete won the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80-metre hurdles and 4 × 100 metres relay. She became the first woman to win four athletics gold medals at a single Olympic Games, a record-setting achievement in the post-war era.

Blankers-Koen was 30 years old and a mother of two when she competed in London. Newspapers called her the “Flying Housewife,” a label that reflected the era's stereotypes but understated her elite preparation and earlier world-class career.

She was unable to enter every event she wanted because Olympic rules limited women to three individual track events. She therefore did not compete in the long jump or high jump, despite holding world records in both events at various points.