# Do you know what Caitlyn Jenner was originally famous for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207 "2021-05-30T04:10:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/83 "2021-06-01T00:06:41Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I do, but then again I’m in my early 50’s. I’ll bet you that my 23 year old stepdaughter doesn’t know. I was born in 1976 and I’m sure I saw Bruce Jenner on television at some point I wouldn’t have known who he was without the Kardashians thrusting him into the limelight again. (And I only say him because that’s how Jenner was presenting at the time.) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/84 "2021-06-01T02:16:33Z")
MAD got in some trouble for using “Bruce” as their code word for effeminate gay men. I mainly remember the 1976 Olympics because of Nadia Comaneci and her premier perfect 10 in gymnastics, but Bruce Jenner was also a star. He was also something of a regional hero because we lived in Des Moines, and he went to college in Lamoni, a small town on the Missouri-Iowa border that is pronounced la-moan-eye. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/85 "2021-06-01T04:22:41Z")
Light PPCs are lostech. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/86 "2021-06-01T04:49:56Z")
Jenner was on KUWTK as Bruce from 2007 to 2015 (or maybe longer because her transition happened IRL in 2015 before it aired on the show). Her only claim to fame at that time was ex-athlete and stepparent/parent to these very famous women and Kris’s husband, wasn’t it? There’s no way people who actually watched/followed KUWTK didn’t know who Bruce Jenner was. I’m sure they didn’t know what his event was but they can’t possibly think of Caitlyn in a bubble. That being said I am pretty sure there were more people saying they hated KUWTK than had ever watched the show. And more people saying they actively avoided Kardashian news than had ever really read any Kardashian news. I’m not saying that all young people should know who Bruce was but I am saying that anyone who watched the show knows. And that fewer people actually watched the show in earnest than everyone accuses everyone else having done. Personally I am only vaguely familiar with the show but I know who Bruce The Athlete was. I would not have guessed decathlon tho. Born in 1979. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/87 "2021-06-01T05:33:00Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > (And I only say him because that’s how Jenner was presenting at the time.) I understand that. Jenner has done this herself, which is why I suspect no one has said anything. But, since you bring it up, I do want to note that the general etiquette with trans people is that you use their preferred gender even in the past, and don’t use their dead name more than necessary. I’m not sure what pronouns Caitlyn uses now for her past. She’s changed her pronouns before, and the last reference I find of her referring to herself with male pronouns [was in 2015](https://www.npr.org/2015/06/05/412305549/letters-gender-pronouns-in-caitlyn-jenner-interview), when the etiquette rules were not as widely established. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/88 "2021-06-01T06:13:57Z")
Although I answered before, I wanted to clarify. I was in high school so the Olympics were a huge deal, just simply because they filled daytime TV. Youngers today cannot imagine life before HBO (for us), ESPN, and even CNN, daytime TV sucked during the summers. It was back when the Soviet block, especially the USSR and East Germany were pouring everything into the Olympics (including doping) for propaganda purposes and the US finished third in the metal count. This was a huge story of those Olympics, perhaps the biggest for many people. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2021, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/89 "2021-06-01T23:37:41Z")
i remeber as a kid that he was presented as some running expert on various morning shows like good moring America etc and would answer on jogging and the like and they would menton the olympics ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/90 "2021-06-02T19:03:43Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@mtnmatt](#): > > > > A few cycles after Bruce’s triumph the marketing folks at NBC tried to build up a rivalry between two other Americans but I can’t recall their names. > > Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson in 1992, and it was actually Reebok which was the prime driver behind that “rivalry.” > > [Dan & Dave - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_%26_Dave) And it famously backfired against Reebok when Dan failed to qualify for the Olympics (he missed the pole vault). Dave ended up taking Bronze at Barcelona 1992 and then shortly retired. Dan O’Brien would later win Gold in decathlon in the 1996 Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![tricoteuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tricoteuse/32/4334_2.png) [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/91 "2021-06-03T13:53:56Z")
I was 10 at the time so I remember the 76 olympics very well. Most of the girls wanted to be Nadiya Comaneci and there were some bad falls off the monkey bars. Our social studies classes were full of “America = freedom = good and USSR = commies = BAAAAAAAD!” so Jenner got a lot of lip service, especially since it was the decathalon which meant we beat the commies at ALL the sports at once! I remember a few guest appearances on TV shows, Diffrent Strokes maybe, as the wholesome all American athlete. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/92 "2021-06-03T14:00:07Z")
I’ve seen this meme a few times over the past couple of years, which is probably worthy of inclusion here. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1c/96/e9/1c96e9e44b1ebefe745f7df133cb858a.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1c/96/e9/1c96e9e44b1ebefe745f7df133cb858a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/93 "2021-06-03T14:05:55Z")
I was only aware of Jenner as an athlete from my youth and then started hearing about her being associated with the Kardashians. I’ve never seen the show, so all I know about it is that Kayne West and Jenner are somehow involved. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/94 "2021-06-04T03:49:30Z")
If you know what Bruce Jenner was famous for, you will recognize the name of the just-passed F. Lee Bailey’s famous client Patty Hearst and what all that was about. If you are under 55, “SLA” is probably meaningless to you. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/95 "2021-06-04T04:31:48Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If you are under 55, “SLA” is probably meaningless to you. I’m 55. Isn’t he part of the Wu-Tang Clan? (Just kidding. I’m well aware it’s the New York State Liquor Authority) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/96 "2021-06-04T05:14:36Z")
And that is kind of funny because I have heard of Taylor Shift but know almost nothing about her. I think she does singy things or something. We all seem to form cultural bubbles that are soft on some parts of the membrane and all but impermeable on others. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/97 "2021-06-04T05:23:32Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If you know what Bruce Jenner was famous for, you will recognize the name of the just-passed F. Lee Bailey’s famous client Patty Hearst and what all that was about. If you are under 55, “SLA” is probably meaningless to you. But again, my point is that Jenner is not the equivalent of Bailey or Hearst. They are people who were famous in the seventies but were later forgotten. Jenner was a famous person in the seventies and is still a famous person in 2021. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/98 "2021-06-04T19:16:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Jenner was a famous person in the seventies and is still a famous person in 2021. But to be fair, she wasn’t called Caitlyn Jenner at the time the Olympic Medal was won. I had heard they were going to change the name, but I don’t know if that is what happened. She also wasn’t called Caitlyn during most of her time on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/99 "2021-06-04T20:08:21Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I’m of a certain age, so I remember the 1976 Olympics. But see how many people remember that Jenner substituted for Erik Estrada in seven episodes of _CHiPs_ . I remember those episodes! IIRC, Ponch didn’t appear in those episodes due to a contract dispute. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/100 "2021-06-04T23:27:12Z")
This is a tragedy. And people also prob’ly forget Jenner’s role in using cowpox to prevent disease. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/101 "2021-06-05T15:26:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > They are people who were famous in the seventies but were later forgotten. Jenner was a famous person in the seventies and is still a famous person in 2021. I think it’s not accurate to use the word “still” here. Jenner is famous _again_. A few years ago, I read a blog post that was kind of randomly talking about the Kardashian’s Christmas card that had just come out. I knew that the Kardashians had a TV show and were kind of famous for being famous. But then the blog post mentioned that Bruce Jenner was on the card, and I thought that was bizarre - why would Jenner be on their card? That was a name I hadn’t heard in a couple of decades at least. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2021, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207/102 "2021-06-05T16:08:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But again, my point is that Jenner is not the equivalent of Bailey or Hearst. They are people who were famous in the seventies but were later forgotten. Don’t forget, Bailey was one of O. J. Simpson’s defense lawyers in the 90s along with the Kardashians’ sire, Robert. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-what-caitlyn-jenner-was-originally-famous-for/943207.md?page=6)