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Bruce Jenner captivated the world when he scored 8,634 points to break the world record in the decathlon at the 1976 Olympic games in Montreal and earned the title, “World’s Greatest Athlete.”
Since his athletic achievements made him world-famous, Jenner has become a motivational speaker, sports commentator, entrepreneur, commercial spokesperson, television personality, actor, producer and author. A devoted father and husband, he supports many nonprofit and charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, the National Dyslexia Research Foundation and Athletes and Entertainers for Kids. Jenner and his wife Kris serve on the board of The Dream Foundation, which grants wishes to terminally ill adults, and C.O.A.C.H. for Kids, a mobile medical unit providing quality healthcare to under- privileged families throughout Los Angeles.
Public appearances and endorsements on behalf of a wide variety of corporate sponsors are a major part of Jenner’s schedule. His first corporate relationship put him on the Wheaties cereal box for seven years. Wheaties’ 75th Anniversary finds him again on the front of the famed cereal box, along with fellow superstar athletes Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.
An avid golfer, Jenner also is a commercially rated pilot who flies his own jet and races cars professionally in Grand Prix events around the world.
After the Olympics, television was a natural step for Jenner, who was a guest host and special correspondent on “Good Morning America” for seven years. He has been a commentator for NBC Sports, ABC Sports and FOX Sports, covering track and field, surfing, motocross and the CART Indy car races. His expertise in this area landed him an Outstanding International Sportscaster of the Year award.
Jenner also can be seen in guest-starring roles on many primetime television series, as a presenter and emcee on awards shows, and as a guest on talk shows including “Oprah” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He has hosted his own health series, “Healthy Lifestyles,” and along with his wife Kris, has gained international attention through their infomercials. The Jenners recently completed a new video together entitled “Women’s Self Defense and Fitness Program.” They also appear in the video series, “Let’s Play Sports.”
In 1980, Jenner made his feature film debut in “Can’t Stop the Music,” starring Valerie Perrine. He went on to form Jenner Productions and starred in its first television production, “Grambling’s White Tiger,” and subsequent productions “The Steeler and the Pittsburgh Kid” and a series of Olympic minutes for syndication called “America’s Hopefuls”.
Jenner recently released the motivational book “Finding the Champion Within.” His first book, “Decathlon Challenge: Bruce Jenner’s Story,” appeared on the 1977 “Best Books for Young Adults” list compiled by the American Library Association. In 1980, he authored “Bruce Jenner’s Viewers Guide to the Olympics,” a handbook to the Games, which was updated for the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 1984, he completed “The Teenage Guide to Fitness.”
Given his own battle with dyslexia, Jenner strives to further the efforts of agencies connected with learning disabilities. He is one of several prominent Americans to be honored at the White House by the Washington, DC-based Lab School for Learning Disabilities. He received the Celebrity Outreach Award for his extensive work assisting with charity fundraisers.
A Sullivan Award winner for his outstanding performance as an amateur athlete and the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year, Jenner was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame in 1986 as well as the Bay Area Hall of Fame and Connecticut Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. He is also a member of the Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Jenner has been named one of the U.S. Jaycee’s Ten Outstanding Young Men in America and was voted “Father of the Year”. He has also received “Father of the Year” honors from the Southern California Father’s Day Committee.
Born in Mount Kisco, NY, Jenner was raised in the Westchester County area. In high school he excelled in football and basketball as well as on the track, where he was an all-State pole vault and high jump champion. He was also the Eastern United States water-skiing champion. He later accepted a track scholarship from Graceland College in Iowa, where his track coach, L.D. Weldon, recognized his great athletic potential. Himself a world-class javelin thrower, Weldon, convinced Jenner to begin training for the Olympic decathlon.
Jenner lives in California with his wife Kris, and their six children: Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloe, Robert, Kendall and Kylie.

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Tai Babilonia, of Filipino, African-American and Hopi Indian descent, was born in Hollywood, CA. She and her brother grew up in the Los Angeles area, where at the age of 6, after watching Peggy Fleming “float like a butterfly” on television, Babilonia convinced her parents to take her ice skating. At 8 years of age she noticed 10-year-old Randy Gardner, who had already been in many competitions.
By 1973, Babilonia and Gardner were the National Junior Pairs Champions and in 1974, they became the youngest pair ever to represent the United States at the World Championships. By 1976 they won the right to compete at the Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Babilonia, then just 16 years old, and Gardner performed admirably, finishing 5th. After winning five U.S. National titles, the duo became the first American pair in 25 years – and the only Americans since then – to win the 1979 World Champions competition in Vienna, Austria. With the highest score ever for a pairs team, they were the favorites going into the Olympic Games.
However, a personal catastrophe was to play itself out in front of millions around the world who watched the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY. Within minutes after skating onto the ice to warm up for their first competitive performance, Gardner fell due to the reactivation of a severe groin injury, forcing the couple to withdraw from Olympic competition. The devastating incident was the catalyst to a remarkable turning point in their lives and careers. The image of the crestfallen Babilonia skating off the ice with Gardner struck a chord in the American consciousness and throughout the world.
A few months after the Olympics, Babilonia and Gardner signed a three-year contract with the “Ice Capades.” In 1987, they received one of the first Olympic Spirit Awards. 1987 also saw the twosome star in the first-ever instructional ice skating home video, “How to Ice Skate.” Additionally, they headlined the first-ever “Caesar’s Christmas” on stage at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
In 1988, Babilonia and Gardner starred in the landmark production “Festival on Ice.” They have been seen in “Las Vegas on Ice” with Wayne Newton and “Ice Capades in Toyland,” and are frequent guests on talk shows such as “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Today Show.”
“On Thin Ice,” a television movie based on Babilonia’s life, aired in 1991. Recent engagements include the 2000 hit summer production of “Broadway on Ice” in Branson, MS, and numerous corporate engagements. Babilonia and Gardner served as official hosts for Sports Illustrated at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
In addition to their entertainment projects, Babilonia and Gardner have had a successful professional competitive career. They are the only American pair in 25 years to win the World Professional Championships, and in 1992, they were inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame. The induction was followed by their 25th anniversary of skating together, which was celebrated in a 40-city nationwide tour.
Coming full circle, Babilonia and Gardner skated at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid in February 2005.
The lifetime Los Angeles resident was chosen as one of the “10 Most Beautiful” people in skating for 2002 by International Figure Skating magazine. Babilionia is also the designer of her own one-of-a-kind jewelry line, “Little Winged Creations,” and with Gardner, has ventured into the literary world, exploring the pair’s career in the coffee table book “Forever Two as One.”
Babilonia is a sought-after speaker, alone and with Gardner, and a popular television and radio guest with appearances on “The Howard Stern Show,” “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and “McEnroe.” She has been featured as the subject of an E! “True Hollywood Story” and in the cable series “Where Are They Now?”
Babilonia supports such worthwhile organizations as Camp Laurel, an organization committed to helping children with AIDS, and the Pediatric AIDS Fund. She was recently honored by “Figure Skating in Harlem” for her support of inner-city children.
Babilonia recently became engaged to comedian David Brenner. Her most cherished role is that of mother to her young son Scout (named after a character from “To Kill A Mockingbird”).
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