The Olympian We Knew As Bruce: Caitlyn Jenner In The '70s

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Bruce Jenner Holding His Gold Medal (Original Caption) USA's Bruce Jenner, San Jose, CA., displays the gold medal he won in the Olympic decathlon here 7/30. Source: Bettmann / Getty Images

The Olympic athlete today known as Caitlyn Jenner is extremely famous, mainly because she was on the most popular reality show of all time, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. She spent most of her time on the show as Bruce Jenner, husband of Kris Jenner, stepfather of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian and biological father of Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

But to those of us who remember a time before Kardashians and before reality TV, Bruce Jenner was primarily known as a record-setting Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon and, unofficially, the world's greatest athlete.

Jenner’s father, William Jenner, was a rugged man who had competed in the 1945 U.S. Army Olympics in Nuremberg, Germany. His father was extremely proud and was not surprised that his son would eventually excel as an athlete as he and Jenner’s grandfather had.  Jenner knew early on what was expected of him. From an early age, he knew he was expected to become an athlete and reportedly also developed an athletic physique at an early age. Jenner reports that he had developed an athletic body as early as age 2.