Caitlyn Jenner

Bruce Jenner

File:Bruce Jenner.jpg Bruce Jenner in March 2011
Personal information
Birth name	William Bruce Jenner
Nationality	United States
Born	(1949-10-28) October 28, 1949 Mt. Kisco, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Chrystie Crownover (1972–81) Linda Thompson (1981–84) Kris Jenner (1991–2015)
Children	Burt Jenner Cassandra "Casey" Jenner Kourtney Kardashian Kim Kardashian Brandon Jenner Brody Jenner Khloe Kardashian Rob Kardashian Kendall Jenner Kylie Jenner
Sport
Country	United States of America
Sport	Track and field
Event	Decathlon
College team	Graceland Yellowjackets
Coached by	Randy Trentman
Medal record Men's athletics Representing the United States Olympic Games 1976 Montreal Decathlon Pan American Games 1975 Mexico City Decathlon

William Bruce Jenner (born October 28, 1949) is a former U.S. track and field athlete and current television personality. He won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal.

Following Jenner's Olympic victory and the related recognition, his professional career led to new success in television. By 1981, he had starred in several made-for-TV movies and was Erik Estrada's replacement briefly on the top-rated TV series CHiPs.

In 1991, he married Kris Jenner (née Houghton, previously Kardashian). Since the 2007 debut of the cable television reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians, he is seen as the stepfather of the Kardashian siblings: Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, and Rob Kardashian, as well as the father of Burt, Casey, Brandon, Brody, Kendall, and Kylie Jenner.

On April 24, 2015, Jenner publicly disclosed that he is a transgender woman. He continues to use male pronouns and the name 'Bruce' while he transitions.

Early life

Jenner was born in Mount Kisco, New York, the son of Esther R. (née McGuire) and William Hugh Jenner. Jenner has two sisters, Lisa and Pam. His younger brother, Burt, was killed in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, shortly after Jenner's success at the Olympics. Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia as a young child.

Jenner attended Newtown High School, Newtown, Connecticut, after spending a year at Sleepy Hollow High School (in Sleepy Hollow, New York). He earned a football scholarship and attended Graceland College (now Graceland University) in Iowa, but a knee injury forced him to stop playing football and he switched to the decathlon. He was mentored by Graceland's track coach L. D. Weldon, who was the first to recognize Jenner's potential and encouraged him to pursue the decathlon. Jenner debuted in the decathlon at the Drake Relays in 1970, placing fifth. Jenner graduated from Graceland College in 1973 with a degree in physical education.

Olympic career

At the 1972 decathlon U.S. Olympic trials, Jenner was mired in fifth place behind Steve Gough and Andrew Pettes. Needing to make up a 19-second gap on Gough in the 1500 meters, Jenner ran a heroic last lap, separating himself from his rivals by 22 seconds to make the Olympic team. The Eugene Register-Guard asked "Who's Jenner?" He went on to finish in 10th place at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany. His success prompted him to devote himself to an intense training regimen, while selling insurance outside training hours. In the era before professionalism was allowed in athletics, this kind of training was unheard of. During that period, he spent eight hours a day at the San Jose City College track, along with his Lab Bertha. Centered around Bert Bonanno, the coach at SJCC, San Jose at the time was a hotbed for training aspiring Olympic athletes, including Jenner, along with Millard Hampton, Andre Phillips, John Powell, Mac Wilkins, Al Feuerbach, and others. Still early in his career, he was featured on the cover of Track and Field News on their August 1974 issue. In 1974 and 1976, Jenner was the American champion in the event. While on tour in 1975, he also won the French national championship. Jenner's best events were the skill events of the second day where his intense training showed.

At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, he won the gold medal in the decathlon, setting the world record of 8,616 points, beating his own world record set at the Olympic Trials. He hit a "home run" by achieving personal bests on the first day, turning his notorious second day into a gold medal coronation.

"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?"

— Bruce Jenner

The world record was broken by just 4 points by Daley Thompson in 1980. In 1985, the IAAF decathlon scoring table was changed; Jenner's winning score was reevaluated against that table and reported as 8,634 for comparative purposes. The converted mark stood as the American record until 1991 when it was surpassed by eventual gold medalist and world record holder Dan O'Brien. As of 2011, Jenner is No. 25 on the world all-time list and the No. 9 American.

As a result of winning the Olympic decathlon, Jenner was a national hero. He was the 1976 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Jenner was also the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976. He was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, the Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980. He was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

San Jose City College hosted the "Bruce Jenner Invitational" (frequently shortened to "Jenner Invitational") as a televised annual stop on the United States Track and Field Circuit (a meet equivalent in stature to the Prefontaine Classic). Records were set at the meet, with Jenner frequently hosting the telecasts.

Post-Olympic career

Taking advantage of his Olympic fame

In the 1970s, Olympic athletes were considered amateur and were not allowed to seek or accept payment for their positions as sports celebrities. In 1972, during the Cold War, three major Olympic titles that had a long history of American success (basketball, 100 meters, and decathlon), were won by Soviet athletes. Winning back the decathlon title made Jenner an American hero.

"Jenner is twirling the nation like a baton. He and wife, Chrystie, are so high up on the pedestal of American heroism, it would take a crane to get them down."

— Tony Kornheiser in The New York Times

Jenner (right) greets Liberian president William Tolbert at the White House on September 21, 1976, as U.S. president Gerald Ford looks on.

After his Olympic success, Jenner decided to cash in on his celebrity status, requiring him to forgo any future Olympic appearances. He left his vaulting poles in the stadium, having no intention of ever using them again. His agent, George Wallach, felt at the time he had a four year window as holder to the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" to capitalize upon. Wallach reported Jenner was being considered for the role of Superman, which ultimately went to Christopher Reeve and James Bond. Even Bertha was considered for a dog food commercial. Quickly after the Games, Jenner appeared on the front of Wheaties brand breakfast cereal as a "Wheaties champion". Of several hundred athletes who have been so featured, Jenner is one of seven Wheaties "spokesmen". On September 21, 1976, Jenner was an invited guest to a White House dinner with U.S. president Gerald Ford and Liberian president William Tolbert among others.

On November 22, 1977, Jenner went to San Francisco to refute charges filed by the San Francisco district attorney that General Mills, the makers of Wheaties, had been engaged in false advertising. Jenner contended that he likes the cereal and consumes this breakfast cereal two to three times per week. Two days later District Attorney Joseph Freitas withdrew the false advertising suit against General Mills for its advertising campaign featuring Jenner, saying that it was "a case of overzealousness" on the part of his staff.

In 1977, the Kansas City Kings selected Jenner with the 140th pick of the NBA draft. Jenner had not played basketball since high school.

TV and film career

Jenner starred in the disco-era Village People comedy, Can't Stop the Music (1980). The movie was a flop. Jenner was nominated for the 1980 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performance in the film, and the film won the Award for Worst Picture.

Jenner has had some success in a television career. He starred in the made-for-TV movies The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story (1980) and Grambling's White Tiger (1981). From 1981 to 1982, he became a semi-regular cast member on the police series CHiPs, guest-starring as Officer Steve McLeish (substituting for star Erik Estrada, who was lodged in a contract dispute with NBC and MGM), for six episodes. He also appeared on an episode of the sitcom Silver Spoons called "Trouble with Words", wherein he revealed his dyslexia in a storyline that dealt with a teenaged recurring character dealing with the same problem. He appeared on the series Learn To Read and in the video games Olympic Decathlon (1981) and Bruce Jenner's World Class Decathlon (1996).

His "hero shot", the finish of the final event of 1976 Olympic decathlon, and Wheaties cover were parodied by John Belushi on Saturday Night Live endorsing "Little Chocolate Donuts".

Jenner has appeared as himself on a variety of game shows and reality television programs. He starred with Grits Gresham in an episode of ABC's The American Sportsman. The program featured Gresham hunting, fishing, or shooting in exotic spots with celebrities. In the early 1990s, Jenner was the host of an infomercial for a stair-climbing exercise machine called the Stair Climber Plus.

In January 2002, Jenner participated in an episode of the American series, The Weakest Link, featuring Olympic athletes. In February and March 2003, he was part of the cast of the American series, I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. He had a cameo appearance in a season-three episode of The Apprentice, which aired in May 2005. He was partnered with Tai Babilonia for Skating with Celebrities in an episode that aired January–March 2006 (they were eliminated during the fifth of seven episodes). Jenner served as a guest judge on Pet Star on Animal Planet, and appeared on NBC's game show Identity, as well as Celebrity Family Feud with his family. In November 2010, a photograph of Jenner played the role of a janitorial resume in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Other television and talk show appearances by Jenner include Nickelodeon's made-for-TV film Gym Teacher: The Movie as well as episodes of Murder, She Wrote, Family Guy, Pet Star on Animal Planet, Identity, Lingo Olympic Winners episode and Celebrity Family Feud as well as such talk shows as Hannity and The Bonnie Hunt Show.

Since late 2007, Jenner has starred in the E! reality series Keeping Up with the Kardashians along with wife Kris Jenner, stepdaughters Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and stepson Rob (from Kris' marriage to attorney Robert Kardashian), and daughters Kylie and Kendall. Season 2 had an average of 1.6 million viewers, an increase over the previous cycle. Jenner has also made cameo appearances on the show's spinoff series.

In 2011 Jenner appeared in the Adam Sandler comedy Jack and Jill in a scene with Al Pacino as an actor in a play. Like Can't Stop The Music the film won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture.

Auto-racing career

Jenner was a successful race car driver in the IMSA Camel GT series (International Motor Sports Association) in the 1980s. His first victory came in the 1986 12 hours of Sebring in the IMSA GTO class driving the 7-Eleven Roush Racing Ford Mustang with co-driver Scott Pruett, not only winning their class but finishing 4th overall in the 12-hour endurance race. His most successful year was also 1986, when he finished second in the championship to Pruett. Jenner commented on this aspect of his career, "I was a lot more badass runner than I was a driver."

Business

Jenner's company, Bruce Jenner Aviation, sells aircraft supplies to executives and corporations. Jenner was the business development vice president for a staffing industry software application known as JennerNet, which was based on Lotus Domino technology.

Jenner was the marketing name for Bruce Jenner's Westwood Centers for Nautilus & Aerobics in the early 1980s. Jenner had no ownership in the centers. The fitness centers were owned by David Cirotto. The centers were sold to Super Fitness Centers, owned by martial arts expert Paul Snow.

Personal life

During his first marriage, to Chrystie Crownover (1972 to 1981), he had two children, Burt and Casey. Their divorce was finalized the first week of January 1981.

Jenner immediately married actress Linda Thompson on January 5, 1981, at the Oahu, Hawaii, home of film producer Allan Carr. As of February 1986 they were separated. They had two children together, Brandon and Sam Brody, known as Brody. The two sons starred on the reality show The Princes of Malibu. Brody Jenner was also on the reality show The Hills.

Jenner married Kris Kardashian (née Houghton) on April 21, 1991, after five months of dating. They have two daughters, Kendall and Kylie. Jenner is the stepfather to Kris' four children from her previous marriage to the late lawyer Robert Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Rob. The couple announced their separation in October 2013, though they had actually separated a year earlier. Kris filed for divorce in September 2014 citing irreconcilable differences. Their divorce terms were finalized in December 2014 and went into effect on March 23, 2015, due to a six-month state legal requirement.

On February 7, 2015, Jenner was involved in a multiple-vehicle collision on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. The accident caused one death, and eight others were injured. Jenner was able to walk away from the accident. Jenner's car, a Cadillac SUV towing a dune buggy, was part of a four-car chain-reaction crash; according to police reports, Jenner rear-ended a Lexus that had stopped behind a Prius, pushing it out of the lane and into oncoming traffic, where it was struck by a Hummer, killing the driver of the Lexus, a 69-year-old woman. Police said video footage obtained from a nearby bus showed that Jenner then hit the car in front of the Lexus, a Prius, that had been stopped. During the investigation, with the road closed, a fifth vehicle driven by a drunk driver crashed into the wreckage. Jenner released a statement saying, "My heartfelt and deepest sympathies go out to the family and loved ones, and to all of those who were involved or injured in this terrible accident. It is a devastating tragedy and I cannot pretend to imagine what this family is going through at this time. I am praying for them. I will continue to cooperate in every way possible."

Gender reassignment

On April 24, 2015, Jenner disclosed that he is a transgender woman. He began the transition in the 1980s with receiving hormone replacement therapy. Jenner stated explicitly in a nationally televised interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC that he shall be referred to as a male until his next public appearance following the airing of said interview; after which, he will reveal himself as a woman. Jenner also stated in the interview that he is not prepared to undergo gender reassignment surgery at this time, and identified himself as asexual.

See also

• List of athletes on Wheaties boxes

External links

• Official website
• Caitlyn Jenner at IMDb
• Caitlyn Jenner at World Athletics