Olympic hero, icon, role model, and transgender are all things that can describe Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner recently made the transition of a lifetime, from male to female, which many people have mixed feelings about. However, many people look to her as a role model for her act of braveness and courage.
Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, was born on October 28, 1949 in Mount Kisco, New York. Jenner was first known as an Olympic hero during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. At the age of 39 Jenner won a gold medal in the men’s decathlon (Imbd.com). The decathlon is one of the hardest events in the Olympics. The decathlon consist of six field and four track events, a total of ten events. Competitions include, long jump,…show more content… This was Jenner’s second Olympic Games that she competed in. Jenner first competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany and finished tenth in the Men’s Decathlon. After winning the gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics, Jenner was an instant celebrity and was proclaimed “the world’s greatest athlete.” The fact that Jenner was able to beat the defending gold medalist champ, Soviet decathlete Mykola Avilov (Espn.com), made the victory even more memorable. After Jenner’s final event, the 1,500-meter run and the gold medal was clinched, a fan ran onto the track and handed Jenner a small American flag on a stick. According to espn.com, Jenner thought to himself, “What am I going to do with this? I can’t put it down, it would look unpatriotic” (Espn.com).So Jenner lifted the flag in the air and started waving it, causing the crowd to roar. This created one of the most…show more content… She changed her Twitter handle to @Caitlyn_Jenner and tweeted that she was “So happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self. Welcome to the world Caitlyn. Can’t wait for you to get to know her/me.” She also appeared in a 20/20 interview had 20.7 million viewers, making it the highest rated newsmagazine telecast ever. While the word was quickly spread throughout the world, she wanted it not to be only about her, but about the entire transgender community. She was awarded the Arthur Ashe courage award at the ESPYS early this year at the beginning of 2015. After accepting the award she gave a speech, not about herself, but about the other transgender people struggling every day to live a normal life. In her speech she vowed “to do whatever I can to reshape the landscape of how transgender people are viewed and treated” (Espn.com). She also talked about something everyone is taught as a child, which is to treat others the way you want to be treated, “Tran’s people deserve something vital; they deserve your respect. From that respect comes a more compassionate community” (Espn.com). “My plea for you tonight is ... join me in making this one of your issues as well” (Espn.com), she said. She really cares about the kids since the transition was not easy for her, “If you want to call me names, make jokes and doubt my intentions, go ahead, because the reality is I can take it, but
