Joan Arlene Spillane (born January 31, 1943) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder.
At the Texas Amateur Athletic Association Annual Championship meet in the summer of 1959 in Tyler, swimming for Houston's Dads Club, Spillane broke the National AAU Record in the Women's 100-meter butterfly.[1]
She won a silver medal in the 100 m freestyle and the gold in the 4×100 m freestyle relay with teammates Molly Botkin, Shirley Stobs, and Chris von Saltza at the 1959 Pan American Games.[2]
1960 Rome Olympics
In the 1960 Olympic Trials, Spillane finished third in both the 100 and 200 meter freestyle, qualifying for a place on the U.S. Women's Olympic relay teams.[3]
Spillane competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where she received a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay, together with teammates Shirley Stobs, Carolyn Wood and Chris von Saltza. She, Wood, and Saltza set a new world record in the 4×100-meter freestyle of 4:08.9. Spillane swam the first leg of the relay final. In the third leg of the final, American Carolyn Wood passed Australian Lorraine Crapp to take the lead by 2.7 seconds, with anchor leg swimmer Chris von Saltza easily maintaining and adding to the American lead to finish with a three length win.[2]
Spillane also swam the freestyle leg for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the women's 4×100-meter medley relay, but she was ineligible for a medal under the 1960 international swimming rules because she did not swim in the event final.[4]
