Bruce Jenner - The World's Greatest Athlete!

   You have probably heard the news that we long suspected was coming! Bruce and Kris Jenner, Step- Dad, and Mother to the Kardashian clan, have boarded separate trains to Splitsville.
I am no fan of reality television. (I am especially annoyed by weight loss reality T.V. shows. More on that in a future blog) Sometimes a few moments of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" may have appeared on my screen before I could flip the switch to something substantial like 'Breaking Bad". Before my fingers could reach the remote, I did notice a bored looking guy being ignored in the background. He couldn't show embarrassment on his face since it was frozen by bad plastic surgery.
    What you might not know was that Bruce Jenner had a title long before his bit part in this three ring circus of unearned fame, decadence and disastrous relationship choices.
Bruce Jenner was once known as the world's greatest athlete! Yes, it's true! He was not just famous for being famous. He had to earn his fame in the biggest sports stage in the world!
   The time was the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The event was the decathlon in track and field.
In the decathlon competitors ply their trade over 10 running, hurdling, throwing, vaulting or jumping disciplines. Each event is worth points based on performance. After 10 events the compilation of points determines the placings. The Olympic Decathlon winner is unofficially lauded as 'The World's Greatest Athlete"!
   Most decathletes are fast twitch muscle fiber beasts. Success in the decathlon depends upon:

1. Technique
2. Power
3. Strength
4. Speed

 There is one exception. The final event is the 1500 meter run, also known as the metric mile.
This is a nightmare scenario for most of these muscular titans. They are built for speed and power - not for a middle distance race requiring endurance that favors a 50% or more proportion of slow twitch muscle fibers. Film footage of tongue-dragging power athletes slogging like sloths through this race are vintage viewing.
  Not so for Bruce Jenner. He used to run 5 miles in the morning and five miles in the evening after a full day of training for other events. He could smoke a fast 1500 meters. Bruce Jenner set a world record at the Olympics and won the gold medal. He then became the first track and field athlete to attain anything resembling celebrity status.
   Jenner was on the cover of the Wheaties cereal box. He scored endorsement deals. He became a
motivational speaker. He was primed to become the NBC color commentator for track and field at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Then the boycott struck. The Soviet Union was mired in a war of occupation in Afghanistan. The American president Jimmy Carter initiated an Olympic boycott by many western nations. So much for Jenner's sportscasting career. By the 1984 Olympics Bruce Jenner was no longer the flavor of the month. His commentating gig was turned over to a former NFL football player and collegiate track sprinter named O.J. Simpson. (Yes - that O.J. Simpson!)
   Bruce Jenner still did well financially. He was on Hollywood game shows and was a successful businessman. He divorced his college sweetheart. He married and divorced one of Elvis Presley's ex-girlfriends.Then he married into the Kardashian family.

Found my old track shoes in storage. No discus -this dinner
plate will have to suffice.
Mount my successful Olympic decathlon challenge.
Marry a divorced celebrity with 3 diva daughters.
Get a reality television show. Watch the dollars roll in.
It's a foolproof plan! 

The rest is reality television history!

   Meanwhile, track and field is fighting to stay in the mainstream of the sports consciousness. Sure we have Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive.
Otherwise track and field has trouble staying ahead of Tractor Pulling in the fan and spectator department. The sport needs people with charisma and drawing power.

Bruce, come back to the oval track, either as a commentator or a coach. You've been away too long.
We need you man!

I almost forgot. The Kardashian sisters all have celebrity Fitness Trainers.
That's the Fitness Training tie to my blog.
  
Until next time,....Keep Fit                 schwabe27.uwmfatloss.hop.clickbank.net

Little Bobby Strong 

P.S. Bruce,  please put in a good word for me with Kourtney!