Caitlyn Jenner
Caitlyn Jenner (born October 28, 1949), formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an American television personality and retiredOlympic 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 thedecathlon. After intense training, Jenner won the 1976 Olympics decathlon title at the Montreal Summer Olympics,[3][4] gaining fame as "an all-American hero".[5] 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."[6] With that stature, Jenner subsequently established a career in television, film, writing, auto racing, business and as a Playgirl cover model.[7]
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.[8] She has been called the most famous openly transgenderwoman in the world.[9][10][11] From 2015 to 2016, Jenner starred in the reality television series I Am Cait, which focused on hergender transition.
Early life
Caitlyn Marie Jenner was born William Bruce Jenner on October 28, 1949, in Mount Kisco, New York,[12] to Esther Ruth (néeMcGuire) and William Hugh Jenner. Her father was an arborist.[13][14] She has two sisters, Lisa and Pam.[15] Her younger brother, Burt, was killed in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, in 1976, shortly after Jenner's success at the Olympic Games.[16][17]
As a young child, Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia.[18] She attended Sleepy Hollow High School in Sleepy Hollow, New York for her freshman and sophomore years[19][20] and Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut for her junior and senior years, graduating in 1968.[21] 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.[22] Recognizing Jenner's potential, a switch to the decathlon was encouraged by Graceland track coach L. D. Weldon.[23] Jenner debuted in the decathlon at the Drake Relays in Des Moines,Iowa in 1970, placing fifth.[24] Jenner graduated from Graceland College in 1973 with a degree in physical education.
Olympic career
All Olympic events and medals are for men's events and prior to her public gender transition.
Early career
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-Guardto ask: "Who's Jenner?"[26][27] A tenth-place finish in the decathlon event at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich followed.[28] 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."[29]
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.[30] Jenner sold insurance at night (earning US$9,000 a year),[31] while training during the day.[32] 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.[33][34]Centered around Bert Bonanno, the coach at SJCC, San Jose was, at the time, a hotbed for training and was called the "Track Capital of the World".[32] Many other aspiring Olympic athletes such as Millard Hampton, Andre Phillips, John Powell, Mac Wilkins, and Al Feuerbach also trained there.[33][35] Jenner's most successful events were the skill events of the second day: hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters.[5][36]
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 magazine's August 1974 issue.[37][38] While on tour in 1975, Jenner won the French national championship,[39] and a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, earning the tournament record with 8,045 points.[25] 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,[40] and 8,538 points at the 1976 Olympic trials, also in Eugene.[27][41] Of the 13 decathlons Jenner competed in between 1973 and 1976, the only loss was at the 1975 AAU National Championships, when she "no heighted" in the pole vault.[25]
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 behindGuido 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.[42] 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 meters, 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 eight 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
Impact
After the event, Jenner took an American flag from a spectator and carried it during the victory lap, starting a tradition that is now common among winning athletes.[46][47]Abandoning vaulting poles in the stadium, with no intention of ever competing again, Jenner stated that: "In 1972, I made the decision that I would go four years and totally dedicate myself to what I was doing, and then I would move on after it was over with. I went into that competition knowing that would be the last time I would ever do this."[29]Jenner explained, "It hurts every day when you practice hard. Plus, when this decathlon is over, I got the rest of my life to recuperate. Who cares how bad it hurts?"[5]
As a result of winning the Olympic decathlon, Jenner became a national hero receiving the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States, and being named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976.[4][22]
Jenner's 1976 world record was broken by four points by Daley Thompson in 1980. In 1985, Jenner's Olympic decathlon score was reevaluated against the IAAF's updated decathlon scoring table and was reported as 8,634 for comparative purposes. This converted mark stood as the American record until 1991, when it was surpassed by eventual gold medalist, and world record holder, Dan O'Brien of Dan & Dave fame.[48] As of 2011, Jenner was ranked twenty-fifth on the world all-time list and ninth on the American all-time list.[49] Including the 2012 emergence of a new world record holder Ashton Eaton, Jenner's mark has moved to No. 27 worldwide and No. 10 U.S.[50]
Jenner was inducted into the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980, the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986, the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.[51] For almost 20 years, San Jose City College hosted an annual Bruce Jenner Invitational competition.
Personal life
Jenner is a Christian, leans towards political conservatism, and is a Republican.[176][177] "I have gotten more flak for being a conservative Republican", she said, "than I have for being trans".[178] Although stopping short of an endorsement, Jenner said she liked Ted Cruz, a Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 election, despite Cruz's negative views of trans people.[179] (Cruz dropped out of the race on May 3, 2016.)[180] On her reality show I Am Cait, Jenner said that although she does not support Donald Trump, she thinks he would be good for women's issues. She then stated she would never support Hillary Clinton.[181]
Marriages
Prior to her public gender transition, she had been married three times. She was married to Chrystie Scott (née Crownover) from 1972 to 1981. They have two children, son Burton and daughter Cassandra, known as Burt and Casey Jenner.[182][183] Jenner and Scott's divorce was finalized the first week of January 1981.[184]
On January 5, 1981, Jenner married actress Linda Thompson in Hawaii.[185] They have two sons together, Brandon Jenner and Sam Brody Jenner (known as Brody).[186] By February 1986, Jenner and Thompson had separated and subsequently divorced.[187] Their sons later starred on the reality show The Princes of Malibu,[188] and Brody appeared in the reality show The Hills.[189]
On April 21, 1991, Jenner married Kris Kardashian (née Houghton) after five months of dating.[190] They have two daughters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner. While married, Jenner was also the step-parent to Kris's children from her previous marriage – Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Robert – who star in Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The couple announced their separation in October 2013,[191][192] though they had actually separated in June.[193] Kris filed for divorce in September 2014 citing irreconcilable differences.[194] Their divorce terms were finalized in December 2014 and came into effect on March 23, 2015, because of a six-month state legal requirement.[195]
Fatal car crash
In February 2015, Jenner was involved in a fatal multiple-vehicle collision on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Kim Howe, an animal rights activist and actress, was killed when Jenner's SUV ran into Howe's car. Accounts of the sequence of collisions have varied, as have the number of people injured.[196] Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges, but three civil lawsuits were brought by Howe's stepchildren and drivers of other cars involved in the collision.[197][198] Jessica Steindorff, a Hollywood agent who was hit by Howe's car, settled her case in December 2015. Howe's stepchildren settled their case in January 2016.[199] Financial details were not disclosed in either case. The third lawsuit is ongoing
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