Jeanne Collier
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 Collier with medal at the 1964 Olympics | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | May 15, 1946 Indianapolis, Indiana, United States | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.56 m (5 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 48 kg (106 lb) | |||||||||||
Spouse | Kenneth Sitzberger (m 1966) | |||||||||||
| Children | 3 | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Diving | |||||||||||
| Club | Dick Smith Swim Gym | |||||||||||
| Coached by | Dick Smith | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Jeanne Ellen Collier (born May 15, 1946), known by her married name as Jeanne Collier Sitzberger after 1966, is a former American springboard diver who swam for the Dick Smith Swim Gym in Phoenix, Arizona. She competed at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and won a silver medal in the 3 meter springboard.
Collier was born one of five siblings on May 15, 1956, to Robert Michael and Lucy Collier, in Indianapolis, Indiana.[1] Demonstrating a remarkable early talent and an affinity for the sport, she first took to diving around the age of ten, and by twelve was competing in national competitions. Distinguishing herself nationally in her early career, she attended the 1960 Olympic trials at the age of 14. After a move to Phoenix, she swam for the Dick Smith Swim Gym, and in the summer of 1961, won the 3 meter diving competition at the Jr. National Championships in Denver prior to her High School Sophomore year. At the U.S. Senior National Diving Championships in Philadelphia in 1961, Jeanne took a sixth place in the 3 meter diving event. Among an array of adult competitors, she was the second youngest.[2] Collier was named to the 1962 All America team.[3]
Collier won the 1963 AAU Championships on the springboard. She graduated from Xavier High School (Arizona) in Phoenix in May, 1964, where she served as Senior Class President.[4][5][6]
1964 Tokyo Olympics
On September 4, 1964, Collier clinched a place on the U.S. Olympic team, along with Sue Gossick of Los Angeles and Patsy Willard of Phoenix, diving at the 3 meter qualifying trials for the 1964 Olympics at the Olympic Pool at Astoria, New York. Collier won the 3 meter event.[7]
As the youngest member of the women's team on October 11–12, she won the silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, placing second in 3 meter springboard diving competition behind gold medalist Ingrid Kramer-Engel of East Germany. It was America's first medal in Tokyo. Kramer-Engel trailed for the first six dives behind American diver Patsy Willard, but went ahead in the last dive of the preliminaries, and retained the lead in the final three subsequent dives. Collier did not move into second place until her final dive, coming from well behind in the scoring, to take second place behind Kramer-Engel, and nose ahead of Patsy Willard who dropped to third place to take the bronze.[4]
Collier's final dive was a reverse 1 1/2 somersault with a 1 1/2 twist, considered the most difficult of the final dives, and gave her a 17.42, the highest score of the final round. American diver Patsy Willard later claimed she performed below her expectations on her final dive.[4][8] Jeanne's diving coach Dick Smith with whom she had trained for many years at the Dick Smith Swim Gym in Phoenix was also her U.S. Diving Coach at the 1964 Olympics. In addition to Jeanne, 1964 U.S. Olympic team members who had formerly been trained by Dick Smith included Patsy Willard, Tom Gompf, and Lesley Bush, who all received diving medals.[3][9]