Biography of Bruce Jenner

Caitlyn Marie Jenner is an American television personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee injury that required surgery. Convinced by Olympic decathlete Jack Parker's coach, L. D. Weldon, to try the decathlon, Jenner had a six-year decathlon career, culminating in winning the men's decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting a third successive world record and gaining fame as "an all-American hero". Given the unofficial title of "world's greatest athlete", Jenner established a career in television, film, writing, auto racing, business, and as a Playgirl cover model. Jenner has six children with three successive wivesâ€”Chrystie Crownover, Linda Thompson, and Kris Jennerâ€”and has since 2007 appeared on the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Kris, their daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and Kris's other children Kourtney, Kim, KhloÃ©, and Rob Kardashian. Assigned male at birth, Caitlyn Jenner publicly came out as a trans woman in April 2015. Her new name was publicly announced in July of that year, with her name and gender being legally changed the following September. From 2015 to 2016, Jenner starred in the reality television series I Am Cait, which focused on her gender transition. In January 2017, she underwent sex reassignment surgery. Jenner has been called the most famous transgender woman in the world. Caitlyn Marie Jenner was born William Bruce Jenner on October 28, 1949, in Mount Kisco, New York. She was known as Bruce Jenner until June 2015. Her parents are Esther Ruth and William Hugh Jenner, who was an arborist. She is of English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch, and Welsh descent. Her younger brother, Burt, was killed in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, on November 30, 1976, shortly after Jenner's success at the Olympic Games. As a young child, Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia. Jenner 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 in Lamoni, Iowa, but was forced to stop playing football because of a knee injury. Recognizing Jenner's potential, Graceland track coach L. D. Weldon encouraged Jenner to switch to the decathlon. Jenner debuted as a decathlete in 1970 in the Drake Relays decathlon in Des Moines, Iowa, finishing in fifth place. Jenner graduated from Graceland College in 1973 with a degree in physical education.