14 DAY TRIAL // The world finally got to meet Caitlyn Jenner, 65, this week, when she appeared on the cover of this month’s issue of Vanity Fair and spoke about her struggle of coming out as a transwoman. Before that, Caitlyn was publicly known as Bruce Jenner, sports icon and reality star thanks to the E!-produced Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
At the 1976 Olympic Games, Bruce Jenner established himself as one of the biggest athletes in the world, and he went on to become an American idol. With good reason, too: he had set a new record and delivered nothing but excellence in the Games.
Now that Caitlyn is here, will she get to keep Bruce’s medals?
IOC pays no mind to online petition
The question attached to the one mentioned above is this: will history be rewritten to replace Caitlyn for every Bruce mention and to use the pronouns she prefers today? Bruce’s Wikipedia page has already been edited in light of Caitlyn’s coming out, including Bruce’s accomplishments in the Games.
According to over 10,000 people who went to the trouble to sign an online petition, if Caitlyn is here, she has no right to Bruce’s medals. She is a woman, he is a man competing in the male category, winning the top prizes as a man.
Despite this initiative, the International Olympic Committee says it has no intention of revoking Bruce’s wins, Yahoo! Celebrity reports.
“Bruce Jenner won his gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games and there is no issue for the IOC,” IOC Communications Director Mark Adams explains.
By the 2012 change to regulations, transgender athletes are now allowed to participate under their chosen gender identity, as long as they meet certain conditions. This Bruce-Caitlyn situation isn’t exactly the same thing (since Bruce won the medals in ’76), but it wouldn’t be too far off either.
Caitlyn can have Bruce erased from the Hall of Fame
Moreover, if Caitlyn wants to have her name put instead of Bruce’s in the Hall of Fame, she can do that, TMZ has learned.
The US Olympic Committee indicted Bruce in the Hall of Fame in 1986 for his achievements in the 1976 Games, but spokesperson Patrick Sandusky says that Caitlyn can have his name erased and replaced with her own.
She would be the first transperson to do that, assuming she wants to. If she does, all she has to do is file a formal request, which will be reviewed and most likely approved.