Caitlyn Jenner Poses With Her Olympic Gold Medal For The Cover Of “Sports Illustrated”

Inside, the reality star discusses her major win in 1976 and how it affected her transition.
From: NewNowNext

 Caitlyn Jenner is serving a powerful look on the July 2016 cover of Sports Illustrated, her third major magazine cover since debuting on the cover of Vanity Fair in June 2015.

Sporting a gold sequin pantsuit and her 1976 Olympic gold medal, the 66-year-old reality star is looking more confident than ever.

So excited to relive my gold medal journey with @SINow! Can’t believe it’s been 40 years! https://t.co/6PfAhDh4pl

— Caitlyn Jenner (@Caitlyn_Jenner) June 28, 2016

In an accompanying interview, Jenner discusses the upcoming Rio Olympics and opens up about how she felt competing in the 1976 games while silently struggling with being transgender and closeted.

“It disgusted me,” Jenner said of her body at the time. “I was big and thick and masculine. The rest of the world thought it was this Greek god kind of body. I hated it. But it’s what I was given, so I just tried to do the best I could with it.”

On reconciling her past with the woman she’s become today, Jenner said:

“Sports. It’s not real life. 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.

…

I loved Bruce… I still love him today. I like what he did and the way he set an example for hard work and dedication. I’m proud of that part of my life. But this woman was living inside me, all my life, and it reached the point where I had to let her live and put Bruce inside. And I am happier, these last 12 months, than I’ve ever been in my life.”

In a 22-minute mini-doc to accompany the interview called Jenner: 40 Years After Gold, Jenner wonders what path her life would have taken if she hadn’t been an Olympic victor.

“I have thought about, you know, what if I didn’t win the games? What would my life be like?” she said. “Would I have been able to, maybe at a younger age, deal with transitioning, being authentic to myself? All of those types of things. I’ve thought about those types of things.”

Check it out below: