Caitlyn Jenner's birthday
Born as William Bruce Jenner on October 28th, 1949, Mount Kisco, New York, Caitlyn Marie Jenner is a retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete who became a media personality. Jenner was interested in sports during her high school years, eventually earning a football scholarship to attend Graceland University, in Iowa. She played football at university for two years, until a knee injury forced her to stop. However, a track coach at Graceland noticed her potential and encouraged Jenner to try out the decathlon. She made her debut in 1970, competing in the Drake Relays decathlon, held in Iowa, and came in fifth place. Jenner graduated in 1973 with a degree in physical education.
Jenner’s career as an Olympic decathlete began in 1972, when she attended the U.S. Olympic Trials and succeeded in qualifying for the team. She then participated in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, where she placed tenth in the men’s decathlon. After returning to the States and moving to California with her first wife, Jenner began an extensive training routine in preparation for the next Olympic event. She also worked by selling insurance at night. As many other athletes did at the time, Jenner trained at the San Jose City College and San Jose State University tracks, under coach Bert Bonanno.
Between 1974 and 1976, Jenner competed in various decathlons, winning the 1974 and 1976 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and the 1975 French Athletics Championships. She won the gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, held in Mexico, and achieved her personal bests at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada, where she also earned the Olympic gold medal. Her win propelled her to popularity in the U.S., and earned her the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete. Jenner retired from her sports career after the 1976 Olympics, stating that she was satisfied with what she had achieved.
After her success in winning the Olympic gold medal, Jenner, as an amateur athlete with no real income, made the best of her newly-acquired fame. She appeared on magazine covers, became a businessman and a race car driver, was the spokesperson for the Wheaties brand cereal in 1977, and even began a film and television career. One of her first acting credits was as co-host of the talk-variety show America Alive! in 1978, followed by her film debut in 1980’s Can’t Stop the Music. Other roles included The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story (1980;) Grambling’s White Tiger (1981;) CHiPs; Silver Spoons; Learn to Read; Murder, She Wrote; and Dirty Tennis (1989.) Jenner has appeared in a number of game shows, such as The American Sportsman, The Weakest Link, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, The Apprentice, and Skating with Celebrities.
From 2007 until 2021, Jenner starred with her then-wife, Kris Jenner, and daughters and stepchildren in network E!’s reality television show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. In 2015, Jenner came out as a trans woman and officially changed her birth name from Bruce to Caitlyn. Her announcement brought her a new wave of attention, and she was featured in Vanity Fair as the first openly transgender woman. That same year, Jenner released a TV documentary series called I Am Cait, which focuses on her life after she came out as transgender, and later published a memoir, The Secrets of My Life, in 2017.
