Jane Fauntz
Fauntz in July 1928
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jane Fauntz | ||||||||||||
| National team |
 United States
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| Born |
December 19, 1910 New Orleans, Louisiana |
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| Died | May 30, 1989 (aged 78) Escondido, California |
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| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| Sport | Diving, swimming | ||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Breaststroke, 3 m springboard | ||||||||||||
| Club | Illinois Women's Athletic Club | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Jane Fauntz (December 19, 1910 – May 30, 1989), also known by her married name Jane Manske, was a national champion swimmer and diver, and a member of the United States Olympic teams in 1928 (swimming) and 1932 (springboard diving). She was the bronze medalist for springboard diving at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Fauntz was born in New Orleans, and raised in Chicago, where she attended Hyde Park Academy High School. Unable to compete in high school swimming competitions because of a ban on female interscholastic athletics in Illinois, Fauntz competed as a teenager for the Illinois Women's Athletic Club swimming and diving teams. In March 1928 she set new world records for the 100-yard breaststroke (1:20.3) and 100-meter breaststroke (1:29.3) at a dual meet against a Canadian team. About six months before that she was hit by a car and severely injured the radial nerve in her right arm.
At the age of 17 at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Fauntz finished in fifth place in the women's 200-meter breaststroke. Her specialty, however, was diving. Describing Fauntz during the Olympic diving competition, author Paul Gallico wrote in the New York Daily News:
"..Her marvelous body flowed through the dives with the smoothness of running quicksilver."
That "marvelous body" became a source of mild controversy at the Los Angeles games, when a Hungarian diving judge, Dr. Leo Donath, ordered the diving competition halted until the American divers changed their suits; he had objected to the near-backless cut of the team-supplied swimsuit.
At the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) swimming indoor national championships in Chicago in 1929, Fauntz won two national titles within the space of one half-hour, winning the one-meter springboard and 100-meter breaststroke titles.
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