12 Facts About Jane Fauntz

Jane Fauntz, 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 and 1932.

Jane Fauntz was the bronze medalist for springboard diving at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Unable to compete in high school swimming competitions because of a ban on female interscholastic athletics in Illinois, Jane Fauntz competed as a teenager first for Hirsch Center and then for the Illinois Women's Athletic Club swimming and diving teams.

At the age of 17 at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Jane Fauntz finished in fifth place in the women's 200-meter breaststroke.

At the Amateur Athletic Union swimming indoor national championships in Chicago in 1929, Jane Fauntz won two national titles within the space of one half-hour, winning the one-meter springboard and 100-meter breaststroke titles.

Jane Fauntz captured the three-meter springboard bronze medal at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, finishing 5 points behind gold medalist Georgia Coleman and a single point behind silver medalist Katherine Rawls, helping the United States team to a sweep of the event.

Jane Fauntz led the competition after the compulsory dives, but slipped to third after mistiming the entry on her next-to-last optional dive.

Jane Fauntz parlayed her Olympic success to a career in marketing, modeling, and professional aquatic exhibitions.

Jane Fauntz became one of the first female athletes to appear on the Wheaties cereal box; she was one of many celebrities of the time recruited to endorse cigarettes and beer.

Jane Fauntz appeared as cover girl for Life and Ladies Home Journal.

Jane Fauntz worked as a model for Saks Fifth Avenue.

Jane Fauntz taught high school art classes for 20 years at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek, California, where she coached boys' diving.