Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born October 28, 1949), formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an American television personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner was a college football player for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee injury requiring surgery. Coach L. D. Weldon, who had coached Olympic decathlete Jack Parker, convinced Jenner to try the decathlon. After intense training, Jenner won the 1976 Olympics decathlon title at the Montreal Summer Olympics (after a Soviet athlete had won the title in 1972 during the Cold War), gaining fame as "an all-American hero". Jenner set a third successive world record while winning the Olympics. The winner of the Olympic decathlon is traditionally given the unofficial title of "world's greatest athlete." With that stature, Jenner subsequently established a career in television, film, writing, auto racing, business and as a Playgirl cover model.
Jenner has six children from marriages to ex-wives Chrystie Crownover, Linda Thompson, and Kris Jenner. Since 2007, Jenner has appeared on the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Kris, their daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and step-children Kourtney, Kimberley, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian. Previously identifying publicly as male, Jenner revealed her identity as a trans woman in April 2015, publicly announcing her name change from Bruce to Caitlyn in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story. Her name and gender change became official on September 25, 2015.She has been called the most famous openly transgender woman in the world. Jenner currently stars in the reality television series I Am Cait, which focuses on her gender transition.
Early life
Jenner was born William Bruce Jenner on October 28, 1949, in Mount Kisco, New York,to Esther Ruth (née McGuire) and William Hugh Jenner. Her father was an arborist and he and her paternal grandparents were from Canada. She has two sisters, Lisa and Pam. Her younger brother, Burt, was killed in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, in 1976, shortly after Jenner's success at the Olympic Games.
As a young child, Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia.She attended Sleepy Hollow High School in Sleepy Hollow, New York for her freshman and sophomore years] and Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut for her junior and senior years, graduating in 1968. Jenner earned a football scholarship and attended Graceland College (now Graceland University) in Lamoni, Iowa, but was forced to stop playing football because of a knee injury.Recognizing Jenner's potential, a switch to the decathlon was encouraged by Graceland track coach L. D. Weldon. Jenner debuted in the decathlon at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa in 1970, placing fifth. Jenner graduated from Graceland College in 1973 with a degree in physical education.
At the 1972 men's decathlon U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Jenner was in fifth place behind Steve Gough and Andrew Pettes. Needing to make up a 19-second gap on Gough in the men's 1500 metres, Jenner ran a fast, last lap, finishing 22 seconds ahead of the other runners to make the Olympic team, prompting the Eugene Register-Guard to ask: "Who's Jenner?"A tenth-place finish in the decathlon event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich followed.Watching Soviet Mykola Avilov win inspired Jenner to start an intense training regimen. "For the first time, I knew what I wanted out of life and that was it, and this guy has it. I literally started training that night at midnight, running through the streets of Munich, Germany, training for the Games. I trained that day on through the 1976 Games, 6–8 hours a day, every day, 365 days a year."
After graduating from Graceland, Jenner married girlfriend Chrystie Crownover and moved to San Jose, California. Chrystie provided most of the family income working as a flight attendant for United Airlines.Jenner sold insurance at night (earning US$9,000 a year),while training during the day. In the era before professionalism was allowed in Olympic sports, this kind of training was unheard of. During this period, Jenner trained at the San Jose City College (SJCC) and San Jose State University (SJSU) tracks. Centered around Bert Bonanno, the coach at SJCC, San Jose was, at the time, a hotbed for training and was called the "Track Capital o
f the World". Many other aspiring Olympic athletes such as Millard Hampton, Andre Phillips, John Powell, Mac Wilkins, and Al Feuerbach also trained there. Jenner's most successful events were the skill events of the second day: hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 metres.
Olympic success
Jenner was the American champion in the men's decathlon event in 1974, and was featured on the cover of Track & Field News's August 1974 issue. While on tour in 1975, Jenner won the French national championship, and a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, earning the tournament record with 8,045 points. This was followed by new world records of 8,524 points at the U.S.A./U.S.S.R./Poland triangular meet in Eugene, Oregon on August 9–10, 1975, breaking Avilov's record, and 8,538 points at the 1976 Olympic trials, also in Eugene. Between 1973 and 1976, of the 13 decathlons Jenner contested, her only loss was at the 1975 AAU National Championships when she "no heighted" in the pole vault.
At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Jenner achieved five personal bests on the first day of the men's decathlon - a "home run" - despite finishing in second place behind Guido Kratschmer of West Germany. Jenner was confident: "The second day has all my good events. If everything works out all right, we should be ahead after it's all over." On the second day, Jenner had a strong showing in the hurdles and discus, and personal bests in the pole vault and javelin. By that point, victory was virtually assured, but it remained to be seen by how much Jenner would improve the record. In the final event, the 1500 metres, seen live on national television, Jenner looked content to finish the long competition. Then Jenner sprinted the last lap, making up a 50-meter deficit, and nearly catching the event favorite Soviet Leonid Litvinenko who was already well out of contention for the overall title, but whose personal best had been 8 seconds better than Jenner's before the race. Jenner set a new personal best time, taking the gold medal with a world-record score of 8,616 points.
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