This is genuinely it for me.
But, I’ll confess, when I saw the thread title, what was going through my head was something like: “Caitlyn Jenner? Is that the one who used to be Bruce Jenner? Are there multiple Jenners, like there are multiple Kardashians? Aren’t the Jenners and the Kardashians connected somehow? Or am I thinking of someone else?”
Word for word what I was going to type. I probably would have randomly guessed stuff like sprinting, pole vaulting or javelin throwing before guessing decathalon.
Ha! I know that reference.
The funny thing is that I had no freaking idea who Jenner was when I started playing Mechwarrior 2 and using that mech, I think I googled it when I could just to see what the heck a “Jenner” was in real life.
I was 9 for the 1976 olympics and the name Bruce Jenner was indelibly linked to those games. Decathalete, Wheaties boxes, the whole shebang.
It’s certainly not unreasonable that younger people don’t remember, but to me the name Bruce Jenner brings up vivid and specific memories, and my knee jerk reaction was definitely surprise.
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.
For some reason I had swimming in my head, but now I realize that I had her confused with Mark Spitz.
Me too. Bruce Jenner was one of our heroes back then. If I hear a comment about Caitlyn I really am not sure who that is.
I knew Bruce Jenner was an Olympian and was on Wheaties boxes, but I don’t think I’d ever have thought specifically of decathlon. I just knew it was something like hurdles or track & field.
I remember the Olympics and the cereal boxes, but my first thought on reading the thread title was “Skater?” Confusing him with Eric Heiden, I guess…
Huh, I knew she was a rapper, but not the rest of that. I did know about her before WAP, but just as someone music people would talk about, usually comparing her disfavorably to NIcki Minaj. I never cared much about how she started out.
However, now that I’ve looked up what show she was on, I strongly suspect that Cardi B being a stripper was actually talked about on that show. And I wonder how much Jenner being a decathlete was mentioned on the reality show she was on.
Heck, with so many people who knew about her as a famous athlete not knowing she ran the decathlon, I wonder how much that word was actually used even in Wheaties days.
A Tonight Show appearance from 1978. Of course, it may be awkward/in bad taste to show this now because of–you know–Johnny’s jacket.
I was present in the stadium in Montreal when Jenner won the decathlon. I have personal photos of the event. So I definitely remember that.
We are the same age. I was a bit Olympic crazy at the time. They made a big deal of the decathlon winner being the best athlete in the world. It sad to see the arc from greatest athlete in the world to hapless dad on a reality TV show.
Exactly! It wasn’t that they just won a big event, it was that BRUCE JENNER was the best athlete in the WORLD!
Hapless indeed. I feel like OJ Simpson’s decline had a ripple effect that, indirectly, took out Caitlyn Jenner too, by giving the Kardashians notoriety, and thus making Caitlyn Jenner look the fool on that show.
Me too. Well played.
Tripler
They should update things with an ‘Ovechkin’ chassis.
Alexa says Jenner noted it “several times” on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, per Quora.
I, never having been much into sports, only knew of Jenner from the Wheaties cover. But I was into ice skating about that time, so I definitely remember Nadia Comaneci.
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory/1976-comanecis-perfect-10s-made-perfect-72255190
The referees’ electronic score cards could only show numbers from 0.0 to 9.9, so when they all gave her 10.0, it showed up at 0.0, whereupon much explaining necessarily ensued.
I know her as a rapper. Had no idea she was a reality show star, let alone a stripper.
I knew Caitlin Jenner had been an athlete, but really only because of her transition and subsequent speedy accolade as woman of the year. I don’t watch the Kardashian programme and most people I know don’t, either, so it doesn’t come up. They’re referred to in jokes etc often enough that I think I know all their names, but I’d find it hard to pick them, except maybe Kim, out of a line-up.
(And I watch plenty of trash TV, so this isn’t snobbery. It’s just not my thing).
So she’s someone I know, and know was an athlete, without even seeing the show she’s been famous for this millennium; knowledge doesn’t always come through a direct route, so you don’t always know everything about the subject.
What, your friends didn’t grow up playing the Decathlon board game? (OK, I didn’t either, but I was at a thrift store when I discovered this gem):
