Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Winning Olympic gold! More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Eat up the summer with an Iowa Soybean Association Farmer Membership powered by the Soybean Checkup. Access timely industry info, engage in on-farm research, and join producer programs all designed to support your operations' unique needs. Activate or confirm your membership before August 31st to be entered to win one of many unique prizes, including a solo stove. Visit isoybeans.com today to learn more. The Iowa Soybean Association, driven to deliver for Iowa's nearly 37,000 Soybean Farmers. Over the past few years, you've heard a lot about the 1976 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon for reasons other than sports. But while training and attending Graceland College in Lamoni, he was known as Bruce Jenner. Jenner actually attended Graceland on a football scholarship, but had to stop playing due to an knee injury. Graceland track coach L.D. Weldon saw his athletic potential, though, and Jenner began training for the decathlon, making his debut in the event in the 1970 Drake relays. He finished fifth, and later qualified for the 1972 U.S. Olympic team in the event. He finished tenth in the Munich games, and after graduating from Graceland the following year, continued his training, selling insurance at night to make ends meet, all the while aiming his sights at Montreal in 1976. "What this dinner has hit the world record is in a compact side lane. The cloud on its feet is growing. It's appreciation of the tremendous effort." As ABC's Keith Jackson called the final race in the 10 event competition, Jenner racked up 8,616 points in the 1976 games, smashing the world record he had just said at the U.S. Olympic trials by nearly 100 points. The iconic image of Jenner carrying a small American flag during that victory lap is etched in many of our memories. In fact, it started a tradition that is now common among winning athletes. Bruce Jenner became just the second person to be pictured on the front of a weedy cereal box. Today's generation knows Jenner for reality television shows and publicly discussing gender identification. But it was Graceland alum Bruce Jenner who won Olympic gold and the title of world's greatest athlete on this date in 1976. And that's Iowa Almanac for July 30th. Follow us on Twitter @IowaAlmanac. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.