Bruce Jenner: Decathlete

I was a fan, as in die-hard fan of Bruce Jenner. What? You don't know Bruce Jenner? He was the 1976 Montreal Olympics decathlon gold medalist. I was so infatuated with Bruce that I wasn't able to keep track of the times I asked him to marry me - while I was watching him on TV as he did his decathlon herculean tasks. So there I was, alone in my bedroom screaming my head off: Bruce! marryyyy meeeeeeeee!!! I guess my mom must have heard me. She never did ask why she never met the Bruce that I was so keen in marrying. If you watch the US show Skating with Celebrities, yes he is that Bruce Jenner, the ice skating partner of Tai Babilonia. Compare the then and now pictures of Jenner. Boy! am I glad he never heard and answered my proposal!

Plastic surgery and implants aside, Bruce is one darn fine athlete. 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 Hall of Fame and Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. Go Bruce!

The Decathlon

Athletics - the heart of the Olympic Games. One of my favorite events in this category is the Decathlon. As the name implies, an athlete has 10 events to compete in. The events are 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400 meters for day 1. For day 2 the events are 110 meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the final 1500 meters. For me, the marathon and the decathlon are the two most grueling events in the Olympics. The youngest decathlete ever to win the Olympics was 17 year old Bob Mathias of USA in the 1948 London Olympics. The myth that decathlon was a game for the old and the experienced vanished when Mathias won the event in 1948 and 1952 Olympics.