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.
[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.
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.