Jenner placed third in the decathlon at the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials and finished in an impressive tenth place at the 1972 Munich games. He became an American champion in the event and won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, setting a world reco

Jenner placed third in the decathlon at the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials and finished in an impressive tenth place at the 1972 Munich games. He became an American champion in the event and won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics, setting a world record of 8,634 points. Jenner was handed a large American flag from a bystander in the audience as he spontaneously ran a celebratory victory lap, a gesture that has been emulated frequently since that time by athletes in other sports from countries around the world (and also by John Belushi in a Saturday Night Live commercial parody). He was the 1976 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Jenner was also the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1976. He was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Bay Area Hall of Fame and Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.