30 Surprising Facts About Caitlyn Jenner You Probably Didn’t Know

Caitlyn Jenner is one of the most popular celebrities who took the world for a ride, not only as an Olympic gold medal winning decathlete, but also as the most famous transgender woman in the world. She was the recipient of the Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating Person of the Year Award in the year 2015. She had been the inspiration to millions of athletes, before her public gender revelation, and after that, she became the inspiration to millions of men and women, to be their own self in every way. Here are some interesting facts about Caitlyn that will blow your mind:

"Caitlyn Jenner - Cambridge 2017" by Chris Boland is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

1.  At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Jenner set a new personal best time and won the gold medal with a world-record score of 8,618 points.
2.  He received the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States, and was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976.
3.  Jenner won the French national championship, and a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, setting the tournament record with 8,045 points, in 1975.
4.  He set a world record with 8,524 points, breaking Mykola Avilov’s record, at the U.S.A./U.S.S.R./Poland triangular meet in Eugene, Oregon, on August 9–10, 1975. He set another record at the 1976 Olympic trials, also in Eugene, with 8,538 points.
5.  Of the 13 decathlons Jenner competed in between 1973 and 1976, the only loss was at the 1975 AAU National Championships, when a miss in the pole vault marred the score.
6.  Caitlyn Marie Jenner was born as William Bruce Jenner on October 28, 1949 to William Hugh Jenner and Esther Ruth in Mount Kisco, New York.
7.  Her father was an arborist. She had a brother named Burt Jenner, who died in a car accident in Canton, Connecticut, on November 30, 1976.
8.  She was diagnosed with dyslexia as a young child. For her freshman and sophomore years, she went to Sleepy Hollow High School, in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
9.  For her junior and senior years, she studied at Newtown High School in Newtown, Connecticut, from where she graduated in the year 1968.
10.  While she earned a football scholarship for Graceland University, in Lamoni, Iowa, she had to give up her dreams related to football, due to a knee injury.

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11.  However, Graceland track coach L. D. Weldon recognized her potential, and encouraged her to take up decathlon, following which she made her debut as decathlete in the year 1970 in the Drake Relays decathlon in Des Moines, Iowa, finishing in fifth place.
12.  He finished in fifth place in the men’s decathlon, at the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Orego. In order to make up a 19-second gap on Gough in the 1500 metres, Jenner qualified for the Olympic team by finishing in first place 22 seconds ahead of the others.
13.  She finished in tenth place in the decathlon at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, but watching Soviet Mykola Avilov win the event, inspired her to start an intense training regimen.
14.  In fact, she started training the same night, running through the streets of Munich, Germany. From then on, she trained 6–8 hours a day, every day, 365 days a year, through the 1976 games.
15.  She moved to San Jose, California, where she trained through the day, and sold insurance at night, earning US$9,000 a year. She trained at the San Jose City College (SJCC) and San Jose State University (SJSU) tracks, under SJCC coach Bert Bonanno.
16.  Jenner married her girlfriend Chrystie Crownover, who provided most of the family income, working as flight attendant for United Airlines.
17.  In the year 1974, she was the American champion in the men's decathlon event, and was featured on the cover of Track & Field News magazine’s August 1974 issue.
18.  It was actually Jenner who started the tradition of winning athletes carrying the national flag during the victory lap, when he took an American flag from a spectator and carried it.
19.  She became the spokesperson for Wheaties brand breakfast cereal in the year 1977, and was featured on the cover of the cereal box, succeeding Olympic Champion Bob Richards.
20.  Since late 2007, Jenner has starred in the E! reality series “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” along with his ex-wife Kris Jenner, stepchildren Kourtney Kardashian, Kimberley Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, and daughters Kylie Jenner and Kendall Jenner.

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21.  In the year 2021, she appeared as a contestant on the fifth season of “The Masked Singer” as the "Phoenix," and was the second contestant to be unmasked. She is the show’s first transgender contestant.
22.  Jenner was featured on the cover of the August 9, 1976, issue of Sports Illustrated, the February 1979 issue of Gentleman's Quarterly, as well as on the cover of Playgirl magazine.
23.  She was selected by the Kansas City Kings with the 139th overall pick in the seventh round of the 1977 NBA draft, although Jenner has not played basketball since high school.
24.  A jersey customized with the number 8618, the Olympic-gold-medal-winning score, was also presented to herm although, she would never appear as an active player of the team.
25.  Jenner competed in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, winning in 1979 and 1982. She was also contacted by NASCAR Winston Cup Series team DiGard Motorsports about driving the No. 88 car for the 1981 season.
26.  Before her public gender transition, she had been married three times – first to Chrystie Crownover, and has a son Burt and daughter Cassandra “Cassey” Marino. Following their divorce in January 1981, he married actress Linda Thompson and has two sons – Brandon and Brody.
27.  Jenner married Kris Kardashian on April 21, 1991, and has two daughters – Kendall andKylie. He also became the stepfather to Kourtney, Kim and Khloe, through this marriage. However, the relationship ended in divorce on March 23, 2015.
28.  She announced on April 23, 2021, that she was running for the Governor of California in the 2021 recall gubernatorial election as a Republican. However, this decision was met with pushback with activists criticizing Jenner for her views on transgender issues and support for the Republican Party.
29.  Jenner was inducted into the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1980, the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
30.  San Jose City College had hosted an annual Bruce Jenner Invitational competition, for almost 2 decades, and she was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.
31.  Caitlyn Jenner Net Worth: $100 Million