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.

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.

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

She became one of the first female athletes to appear on the Wheaties cereal box; she was also one of many celebrities of the time recruited to endorse cigarettes (in her case, Camels) and beer (Falstaff).

As a professional diver, Fauntz appeared in exhibitions at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, where she met future husband Edgar "Eggs" Manske, an All-American football star at Northwestern University; they married in 1936.