Nearly 40 years to the day after winning Olympic gold in July 1976 in Montréal, Caitlyn Jenner is covering Sports Illustrated to commemorate her win and the notoriety the gold medal brought her.
So what does Caitlyn make of the medal she won July 30, 1976, a medal she now keeps in a drawer with her nail files?
"Sports. It’s not real life," she told SI. "You go out there, you work hard, you train your ass off, win the Games. I’m very proud of that part of my life. And it’s not like I just want to throw it out. It’s part of who I am. What I’m dealing with now, this is about who you are as a human being. What did I do for the world in 1976, besides maybe getting a few people to exercise a little bit? I didn’t make a difference in the world."
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Now, so many years after Jenner's win, her platform has shifted to transgender rights and activism. The SI cover is about catching up with athletes of the past and seeing where they are now, but Jenner has remained in the public eye, and, for the past 12 months, been a visible ally for members of the trans and LGBTQ community.
Over a series of three interviews, Jenner's Sports Illustrated spread recounts her life as an athlete, her trans identity, and how she feels about her athletic legacy.