Caitlyn Jenner Covers Sports Illustrated, 40 Years After Olympic Gold Medal Win

Caitlyn Jenner has posed for the cover of Sports Illustrated, 40 years after her Olympic gold medal win.

The former sportstar-turned-reality TV personality appears on the latest edition of the mag’s front page, sporting the medal she won after triumphing in the decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Speaking in the accompanying interview, Caitlyn discusses her medal win, insisting that the work she’s doing now as a transgender advocate is far more important.

She tells the magazine: “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.”

Caitlyn also reveals where she now keeps the medal, getting a make-up bag out of her dressing table and saying: “Here it is. In my nail drawer. That’s what you can say: It was in the nail drawer.”

Last year, in a blog published on The Huffington Post, Caitlyn declared that the medal is her most prized possession, but explained why she’s been careful not to show off with it over the years.

She wrote: “I never wanted my kids to feel like they had to have a gold medal in order to be considered a success.

“I didn’t want them to constantly compare their own achievements to my time in the Olympics, so I haven’t displayed my medal.”

Read Caitlyn’s full Sports Illustrated interview here.