Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen
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Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen (née ''Olsen''; February 11, 1931 – September 23, 2017)Zoe Ann Olsen-Jensen's obituary
/ref> was an American diver. She competed in the 3 m
springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...
at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and won a silver and a bronze medal, respectively. During her career Olsen won 12 AAU diving titles, starting from 1945 as a 14-year-old. In 1949 she married the football and baseball player Jackie Jensen, and divorced him in 1968.


Early years

Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Olsen-Jensen is the daughter of Art Olsen and Norma Bragstad Olsen. Her father was a coach and school principal; her mother taught swimming and was described as "a pioneer of synchronized swimming." She attended La Porte School in La Porte City, Iowa, but she and her mother moved to Oakland, California, when her father enlisted for military service in World War II. In 1949, she graduated from Oakland High School, where she was president of her senior class and an honor student.


Swimming

When she was 9 years old, Olsen-Jensen won first place in girls' and women's diving in open swimming and diving competition in Neenah, Wisconsin. Olsen-Jensen won over 16 women divers and was the youngest of more than 100 participants in the Fox River Valley meet. At age 11, Olsen-Jensen was the only two-event winner in Iowa's state
Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...
swimming meet, finishing first in diving and the 40-yard freestyle junior race. When she was 12, she finished third in the national junior AAU championship competition. In 1948, Olsen-Jensen won her first Olympic medal in springboard diving in London.


Personal life

On October 16, 1949, Olsen-Jensen married Jackie Jensen, a member of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, in Oakland, California. They had a daughter and two sons. Olsen and Jensen divorced on May 18, 1963. They remarried on July 11, 1964, but divorced again on January 17, 1968. On September 18, 1972, she married Don Bramham.


Recognition

Olsen-Jensen is a member of the
Iowa Sports Hall of Fame The Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, sponsored by the ''Des Moines Register'', honors outstanding athletes and sports contributors. To be eligible, members must have either been born in Iowa or gained prominence while competing for a college or universi ...
. In three years, she was nominated for the James E. Sullivan Award, which goes to "the nation's outstanding amateur athlete, woman or man."


See also

*
List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests a ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen-Jensen, Zoe Ann 1931 births 2017 deaths American female divers Divers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Divers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in diving Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in diving Sportspeople from Council Bluffs, Iowa Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics 21st-century American women 20th-century American women Oakland High School (Oakland, California) alumni