Introduction
In 1999 Fanny Blankers-Koen, along with Carl Lewis for the male, was named Top Female Athlete of the 20th Century at the World Athletic Gala in Monte Carlo, Monaco. I have been doing research with this very different astrological method for 35 years. I know that no one receives that kind of life honor unless s/he has a (a)highly benefic chart at birth. plus (b)she must have significant progressed benefic influence. An individual can win one, or perhaps a few over several years, without (a) and with really good (b), but “lifetime” results imply lifetime influences.

Ms. Blankers-Koen won nine gold medals in her lifetime along with numerous other athletic awards. Her astrology for the summer of 1948, when she won four Olympic Gold Medals in London, can be used to demonstrate both (a) and (b), that is, her benefic starting astrology at birth plus her progressed astrology for the event.

Her Alzheimer's disease at the end of her life was significant enough for her Astrodatabank biography to state that she “died” of it, so we want also to look at her astrology for that. I have written two previous papers on Alzheimer's in which its significators is identified. Links for those papers are provided in the Alzheimer's section below, as is the significator.

Now we want to discuss the planets involved in winning.

The Planets Involved in Winning at Almost Everything
There are two planets which sponsor much of our bad fortune—physically, mentally, and materially, depending on which chart they fall in and which houses they influence.

And two different planets sponsor much of our success, joy, and good fortune.

The planetary authors of most (but not all) of our good feelings are venus and jupiter, known to traditional astrology as the lesser and greater benefics, respectively.

Venus represents the principles of love, connectedness, appreciation, responsiveness, emotional victory. People with moon/venus on or influencing an Angle, like John F. Kennedy, have immense charm.

Jupiter represents the principles of ease, growth, expansion, comprehensiveness, and because of its surplus, generosity and mercy. It is the planet, when forefront in charts, that sponsors a high “emotional quotient.” Prominent, it more than any other planet, sponsors success, recognition, good timing, self-confidence. It also helps protect against disease and disaster, ameliorating conditions if not outright denying them.

Venus and jupiter together on an Angle (or on two different Angles and “summed”), or in a set with a light (sun, moon, or moon's node) influencing an Angle through a ruler, they create a golden benefic. Golden benefics are in evidence in almost all instances of success, winning, joy, in all areas of human experience.

For instance, in the 2nd chart of money they represent lifelong ease of accumulating money, or by timing. winning the lottery, inheritances, or other fortunate windfalls.

For instance, in the 4th chart of home and father's influence they can represent a fortunate real estate purchases or rental.

To see the progressed golden benefic on his 4th house cusp (that is, I.C.) for President George W. Bush for his stunning victory in 2004, do a search for his name in the paper on Eastern spiritual teachers: Paper on Gurus. His was one of several pieces of astrology included in that paper to show the power of golden benefics in charts of people other than spiritual teachers. In his case, his life prior to becoming president did not reflect high social esteem. He just happened to have highly benefic, slow-moving astrology during the time he was president. For his stunning second election, he had a conjunction of venus to jupiter on his I.C.

In the 10th chart of career and social image venus and jupiter together represent highly favorable social stature, and by timing, promotions, great new jobs, and other social forms of recognition. The 10th chart astrology is also an index of the individual's relationship with his other (as is the 4th, with the father).

Too much good luck can sponsor difficulties, especially when some other part of the individual feels "deficient." We all tend to constantly put forward our liked (successful) qualities while hiding our faults and deficiencies. This can lead to problems confronting the issues that need confronting. “Too much” venus can lead to appeasement and inability for self-assertion, while too much jupiter can lead to an appetite that knows no moderation.

The Significator For Winning at Almost Everything
Therefore, in looking for gold medal winners we expect to find venus and jupiter forefront, that is either on or influencing Angles, by timing (progression) on the dates of her win.

The planet/path of the significator, then, is Angle/(light)/venus/jupiter/X/X. When they are on (conjunction, square, or opposition) an Angle no other “light” is needed. If they are in a set which only influences an Angle through one of the planets in the set ruling an Angle, then a light is needed in the set. Both times an Angle must be influenced. The X/X stands for house influences. Those vary depending on the type of win experienced. In social recognition the 10th house is obviously relevant, but either MC or Asc can show social prestige. Other houses may come into play. For instance, if the 2nd houseis involved, it shows that the individual's social wins will usually be accompanied with financial ones.

The significator can be achieved through the “summing” of several Angular influences.

Before we look at Blankers-Koen’s astrology, we need some information about the astrological method used here.

Astrological Method
This method is not traditional. It uses a birth and conception planets and their harmonics and houses, all of which share the same axis. :

This astrology uses the sidereal positions of the planets based on the Fagan-Bradley’s SVP. Here is the address of the paper that discusses the practical difference between the tropical (Western) and sidereal (Eastern) zodiacs: Sidereal vs. Tropical Astrology: A Discussion. Today it is politically correct to say that both zodiacs "work," but there are important ways in which they both do not work equally.

Harmonics are taken from the sidereal position of the planets. The Egyptian harmonic, discussed in the paper “About This Method” (link below), is used. This particular harmonic has produced consistent results and cannot be replaced by the regular harmonic (though the latter surely involves less work).

”Lights” include suns, moons, and moons nodes. When mercury rules one or two Angles, it also acts like a light and has the same orb as the other lights. The MC or Asc also acts like a light, but one with only a 2° orb, because when a set is on an Angle it does not need a light to be active.

This method uses only conjunctions, applying and separating squares, and oppositions. Orbs for static planets with lights is 5°; without lights, about 2.5°. Orb for MC/planet or Asc/planet is 2°. Planets so related to each other are referred to as in the same “set.” A set, then, is two or more planets (or an Angle) connected to each other through conjunction, square, and opposition within the defined orbs. Sets without Angles are more active when they contain a light, and less active without one. Learning to look in terms of “crosses” can be helpful in rapidly finding planets that are in the same set.

Because this approach uses both a birth and conception chart and they share the same axis, birth houses usually overlap different houses of the conception chart. These are called “house overlaps.” As it turned out in this paper, house overlaps were not significant. They can be for some other conditions. Throughout this paper I use the convention when writing about house overlaps of putting the birth house first, then the conception house. So, for instance, a “5th/1st” overlap refers to an overlap of birth 5th house with conception 1st house in that order.

Birth planets (including their harmonics) rule only birth houses. Conception planets (including their harmonics) rule only conception houses.

For a more thorough explanation of this astrological approach, refer to the following papers:

About This Method

Chart Reading Rules

In the partial charts shown below, birth planets and their harmonics are inside the circle. Conception planets and their harmonics are outside the circle. Conception sidereal planets are red; conception harmonic ones, black. Birth sidereal planets are blue; birth harmonic ones, green. Occasionally, because of space limitations, I have had to violate this inside/outside arrangement, but the color coding remains constant.

Abbreviations used are b = birth, c = conception, and t = transiting. Even though the harmonic used for each chart is always two more than the chart’s number, in these papers—for ease of reading—I write the harmonic number the same as the chart number. For example, the 5th chart uses the 7th harmonic, but I have established the convention of writing harmonic planets for the 5th chart as, e.g., c5 mars, which reads, “the harmonic for the 5th chart for conception mars.”

Fanny Blankers-Koen
Since her given time of birth--14:00 LST (see Data Acknowledgments below)--appears a typical European listing of birth time to the nearest 15 minutes, it was necessary to check this time against events in her life. One of the events was the date of her marriage, August 29, 1940. A second one was winning a gold medal in Oslo, Norway on August 23, 1946. The third was the date she was awarded the title of the Top Female Athlete of the 20th Century, November 21, 1999, Monte Carlo. The first uses the 7th chart for verification, while the latter two use the 10th. The significator for all three was Angle/venus/jupiter/X. Astrology for all three was accurate. That astrology is not in this paper, but is available to any who ask. Here we are concerned with her astrology for the summer of 1948 when she won four Gold Medals.

A reminder: the orb for planets to Angles with the return Angles is 2°; progressions, much less than 1°. A light—sun, moon, or node—in either set will increase acceptable orb 20-30 minutes.

According to Astrodatabank Blankers-Koen won four Olympic Gold Medals in the following events:

Blankers-Koen's four medals were won from between August 2, 1948 and August 7, 1948. The spread is so small we can use a middle date which will show us the same influence of venus and jupiter on Angles for the whole five days. The only thing that changes that much in five days is the progressed harmonic moon and transits. I have shown below that her progressed conception harmonic moon, too, on the actual date of one of her wins was in the same set with her progressed venus. The date used for everything else is August 4, 1948. Return planets are good for the whole 40 days of the return, and transiting planets are done for noon of the day since I did not know what time she won.

Her return for this date occurred on July 18, 1948, lasted 40 days, and was moved to London for her time there. Total duration of this Olymic was from July 29 to August 14, 1948.

Since I am having problems getting my color coding to appear in my scans of drawing, here is a reminder that conception planets and their harmonics fall outside the circle above, while birth ones and their harmonics are inside it.

It doesn't hurt her competitiveness, either, that her b sun is in Aries, allowing her to focus entirely on what she wants in a desire to be first and unique Here is a relevant quote from Wikipedia “The 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. Through many interviews with relatives, friends and contemporary athletes, it paints a previously unknown picture of her. 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 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.”

I don't like to include a planet like c10 saturn in the set because it is over three degrees from the Ascendant. Nonetheless, working from the sun, there is a set that includes sun/venus/jupiter/mars saturn, also shown as part of Set (1). In a benevolent enough chart—and this one is highly benevolent with a golden benefic influencing two Angles, the sun/mars/saturn part represents “hard work” and occurs in the charts of many athletes who become famous—for instance, Muhammed Ali.

Set (2) is a simple node/jupiter—that is, a lighted jupiter—set. I include it here because it falls in c 1st house. It may have several interpretations, one being the love of outdoors; another, growth through physical exertion.

On August 4—the midpoint between August 2 and August 6 for the London part of the 1948 Olympics, Mrs. Blankers-Koen had the following pertinent progressed sets, starting with the activation on the Set (1) shown above. I remind the reader that the return Angles can take an orb of 2°, whereas progressed Angles, only 1° (usually less), so this set is centered around the return MC at 20 Leo 92:

Set (1a)	return MC	20 Leo 02	return on 7/18/48, London
	b mars	20 Leo 16	ruler of B MC
	C Asc	19 Scorpio 27
	t10 neptune	20 Scorpio 30	for 12:01 pm BST
	pb moon	21 Scorpio 15
	c10 venus	20 Aquarius 13

The neptune added to the sets defines the elation of winning—a real high. The two extra lights energize the set.

Also significant:

• pB MC at 27 Taurus 08 in the same set with return10 NN at 27 Scorpio 08. Progressed and transiting Angle/nodes just emphasize whatever is happening in the chart. Here it emphasizes the highly benefic condition of her astrology.

• pb Asc at 29 Leo 21 is in the same set with b SN at 29 Taurus 29.

• pc10 neptune, at 21 Virgo 36 is hitting her C MC at 20 Virgo 45 conjunct her b10 sun, ruler of B Asc, at 22 Virgo 17.

• pC Asc at 13 Sagittarius 35 is in the same set with pb10 neptune, ruler of b 9thhouse at 13 Virgo 55. As can be seen, on this day she is experiencing enormous joy.

• return10 moon at 18 Gemini 05 is in the same set with node/jupiter shown as Set (2) above.

• pb mars, ruler of B MC, at 25 Leo 27, is in the same set with pb jupiter at 25 Taurus 34, c10 NN at 26 Scorpio 08, and t jupiter at 25 Scorpio 18R. This is an additional lighted Angle/jupiter.

• pc mercury, ruler of C MC and thus acting like a light, at 28 Leo 31 is in the same set with pb NN at 28 Scorpio 26. This can represent all the congratulations and other conversations whe gets in because of her four gold medals.

You didn't see any “hard work” (mars/saturn) sets? It is comprised of :

• her pc10 mars, ruler of her C Asc, at 8 Capricorn 06
  
• her c mercury, ruler of C MC and acting like a light, at 8 Cancer 46
  
• her c saturn at 9 Cancer 25
  
• return10 saturn at 8 Aries 22.

The above set shows Angle/light/mars/saturn—the set of hard times and hard work, and it influences two Angles.

For August 6, when she receives her final medal, pb venus, at 28 Pisces 04 is in the same set with pc10 moon at 28 Virgo 13—another feeling of being a winner. In the 10th chart, that progressing harmonic moon moves twelve times faster than the normal progressing moon.

Now we can look at her astrology for Alzheimer's disease.

Her Significator for Alzheimer’s Disease
Blankers-Koen's significator occurs in all charts because it has no harmonics in it. Links to other papers about Alzheimer’s disease are:

Paper on Alzheimer's Disease (17 Cases)
Another Paper on Alzheimer's Disease (7 More Cases +)

The two papers above demonstrate that the significator—all are subject to later amendment—is Angle/mercury/saturn/3rd/4th/8th/9th. She had also become deaf . It is possible this set represents that, with mercury representing hearing, but this needs investigation.

The mercury/saturn part of the Alzheimer's significator suggests that the mind (mercury) is either “depressed” (in function) or dying. Each of the houses demonstrates some aspect of the areas of behavior affected by Alzheimer's—3rd and 9th that both lower and higher mind are affected; 4th house that the condition affects the end of life, and the 8th that the condition affects the capacity for eapacity for emotional interaction and derived identity.

Here is her Alzheimer's set:

Set (3)	b sun	11 Aries 51	ruler of B Asc
	c mercury	8 Cancer 46	ruler of C MC, a light, and ruler of c 8th house
	c saturn	9 Cancer 25
	tc neptune	10 Cancer 40	ruler of c 4thhouse and co-ruler of c 3rd

This set influences two Angles and her 4th house, so is a powerful end-of-life (4th) influence. The mercury/saturn being in Cancer, the natural sign of the 4th house, also suggest a late life influence./p>

I did not do her progressions for death. Her biography does not mention how long she had Alzheimer's. Wikipedia only states that it was “in later years.” She lived to age 85.

Discussion
This paper was limited in scope to demonstrating that (1) those, assuming our example typical, who win Gold Medals in the Olympics have highly benefic astrology at least at the time of their win, and often starting at birth.

And (2) the second, the presentation of her Alzheimer's significator showed that it matched those of other Alzheimer's victims (as shown in the paper in the two links provided).

Tall Bellflower (cropped)
From Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela




DATA ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The letter following er name indicates the Rodden rating for reliability of birth time. “B” represents it came from a biography, title below.

Fanny Blankers-Koen (B)
Birth: 4-26-1918, 14:00 LST, De Brandenburg Monument, Netherlands. . From Astrodatabank by Lois Rodden and Mark McDonough. Svi quotes the biography, “Fanny Blankers-Koen. De huisvrouw die kon vliegen” by Kees Kooman (May 2012, page 36): 26 April 1918, 14:00, De Brandenburg at Lage Vuurssche.
Conception:7-18-1917, 5:09:10 p.m. LMT, .De Brandenburg Monument, Netherlands.








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