Interview with Bruce Jenner

MJ: Bruce Jenner thanks for joining us today.

BJ: Thanks. My pleasure. Thanks for working this out.

MJ: This is a great place you live, tell us about Hidden Hills.

BJ: Well, Hidden Hills is an area in Los Angeles just outside of the Valley kind of just as the Valley ends, and it's a totally gated community. It's just wonderful. Once you get inside the gates, it's like you're you know, out in the country. Everybody's got horses and acreage and, you know, riding trails all through it, and it's just, it's a real horse community. It's been here for a long time, but it's, it's like you're a million miles away from Los Angeles, but you're not that far away.

MJ: Bruce, when we think of you we think of 1976..

BJ: Nothing wrong with that. It's o.k.

MJ: It sort of goes together with Bruce Jenner. Tell us what 1976 means

and meant to you.

BJ: It meant a lot of things to me. When I went to the games, I was the

favorite to win. I had the world record, and so, and I planned on winning,

so it didn't come as a shock to me to win, because I had only lost one meet

in the last three years. But the nice part was, it was the last meet of my

life and I walked away, retired, I quit that day, so satisfied that my

athletic career ended that way, on such a high note. It was just such a

good feeling because when you go to the Olympics, you train for four years

between the 1972 Olympic Games and 1976, to be at your best on that day.

And I was absolutely at my best on that day. I came up with a world-record

performance. I got all the marks in every one of the ten events I wanted

and I walked away just feeling so satisfied and so happy that I was able to

finish my career. The nice part was, is that it's amazing to go on and

take the world on one on one, you know, where you just...I'll never be in a

situation like that again where you take the world on, and to walk away

with a win...a victory to have climbed every mountain that you can possibly

climb in your sport. It was an extremely satisfying feeling and what I

learned from that is what tremendous potential lies down deep inside of

every one of us. I never thought I could do something like that, I mean

that always happens to everybody else, but I learned a lot about climbing

mountains, about being on a great journey in life and it was a, quite an

experience to go through.

MJ: What kind of kid were you? Were you sitting around dreaming about the

Olympics?

BJ: Not even close. I was sitting around scared to death to go to school.

I grew up dyslexic, a dyslexic kid. I...my biggest fear in life, really

down-right fear, scared...sweaty palms, fear was not going into the Olympic

arena because...in front of billions of people, because I knew what I was

doing there. My biggest fears in life were as a young child having to go

to school because I was afraid the teacher was going to make me read in

front of the class. Not only perceptually did I have a problem, picking

the words up off the piece of paper, but I was so afraid that I was going

to look bad in front of my friends the process just didn't work. And so I

was always afraid to go to school and I had suffered from tremendous low

self-esteem because everybody else was smarter than me, everybody else was

a better reader than me and we put a lot of pressures on young people when

they're going through school. And for me, it wasn't until fifth grade where

our gym class had set up a bunch of chairs, you know in gym class and every

kid in class and every kid in school had to go out and run around these

chairs and get a time and I went out there and like every other kid and put

my foot on the line and ran as hard as I could around these chairs and came

back and I wound up having the fastest time in the whole school. And all

these kids were coming up and giving me a pat on the back and saying, "gee,

Bruce, I didn't know you were that fast." Frankly, I didn't either, but

all of a sudden this thing called sports, I said, 'What is this thing?'

And from that point on, sports became important to me just for my

self-esteem. I mean I could go on the football field with a kid who I knew

was a good student, good reader, and you know, get in there ...clean his

clock you know, I mean, boom! And that felt good! I liked that feeling,

so I, I found my little what I call my arena to play in and it, it helped

me tremendously, my self-esteem, I felt better about myself, it helped the

reading problem. It gave me more confidence in life, so that was the big,

really changing point for me was fifth grade. After that I started to do

better in school and get more interested in school.

MJ: So in terms of the Olympics, can you tell us a bit about the events

that you, you know, did so well in and you have to be skilled in a variety

of things in which you do.

BJ: The decathlon is a ten event competition in track and field. You have

to run the 100 meters, do the long jump, throw the shot, high jump, 400

meters...that's the first day of competition. The second day you run a 110

meter high hurdles, you throw the discus, pole vault, javelin, and then run

the fifteen hundred meters. It is an event that's been around since 1912

the first Olympics that they had the decathlon in which Jim Thorpe of the

United States won, and after he won the King said to Jim Thorpe, 'You are

truly the world's greatest athlete...' because he had won this, such a

versatile event and that title kind of stuck along with the event ever

since then. So it is a true test of a person's athletic ability, the

ability to be able to run, jump and throw. That's what you think an

athlete should be able to do.....run four different ways, 100 meters, to

fifteen hundred meters, to 110 meter high hurdles, 400 meters, throw three

different implements, a shot, a discus, a javelin, and jump three different

ways, long jump, high jump and with a pole in your hand. So it is a

standardized test throughout history of a person's athletic ability. To

me, that was so intriguing when I first got started 'cause I thought I was,

you know, a pretty good little athlete. And, I said this is the ultimate

test, you know, this is the big test, throughout time. I can compare my

times against Jim Thorpe or Bob Matthias or any of the great decathletes in

the past. So, that's what really was intriguing to me about the event.

The history of the Olympics, and to test myself as an athlete.

MJ: How have your records stood up since then?

BJ: Actually, quite well. I'm, you know, I scored 8,634 points, which was

a world record for five years. It was the American record for sixteen

years until Dan O'Brien finally came along who won the last Olympic Games

in the decathlon. It was the longest dry spell the Americans have ever

had, twenty years of not winning the event, and it was great to see Dan win

and the, the gold medal come back here to the United States and

so...we...Dan holds the world record so we now have the world record holder

and, and the Olympic champion back in the good old U.S. of A. where it

should be, and we have a lot of pride in our decathletes so, you know, my

record held up very well. You know, even today, it would have taken the

bronze medal in the last Olympic Games. It would have won the Olympic

Games before that in 1992. So, it's amazing to me that I was a little bit

ahead of my time you know, at that time.

MJ: What is it like the night before a big competition like the Olympics?

Do you have trouble sleeping?

BJ: It's horrible! The Olympics is not a fun experience. You don't

think, "Oh, I'm going to go to the Olympics and have a good time." It is

the biggest pressure cooker in the world. There's no question about it.

The...the pressure that you deal with....it's a one-shot deal, you know.

You have to wait another four years. There's so much media, there's so

much hype behind it. It means so much to you. You trained every day of

your life for the last four years for that one competition. And it's not a

fun experience to go through. If you say it once you say it a thousand

times...'Why am I doing this! Why am I doing this to myself?' you know,

'Why am I doing this?' And...but somehow with years and years of training

and everything, somehow you get through it. The way I used to look at it

is ...I, I used to take all these emotions that we have and in the Olympic

arena, the emotions are at their peak, the emotions of pressure, enormous

pressure, fear, you're scared to death, I mean, it's tough to go out there.

It's a scary deal... doubt...can I do this again on and on.... We have

so many great emotions and for me that was always a signal to turn my brain

on, to use those emotions to propel me forward, not to slow me down. For

instance, fear. I would never let fear get in front of me, you know,

mentally, I've never let it get in front of me. I don't want to hit up

against fear. I want to take fear and in my head I would turn it around

and place it right behind me. I could mentally take fear and put it there.

I want it to push me. I want it to make me run faster. Pressure to me

was something that turned my brain on. When I feel the pressure coming

down and in the biggest pressure meets of my life I always was able to

perform better under pressure because I, I...it made me think, it made me

the smartest athlete out there. There's the athletic body which is the

physical aspect of competition, but then there's also the athletic mind

which is the mental aspect of competition and that mental aspect of

competition is so extremely important. That's was the games are all

about. Everybody in the Olympic arena physically has the ability to win,

they're all that good, but it's the person who can come up with the

performance and push themselves and bring that performance out on that

day...that's the athletic mind, and so, that's what the Games are all

about...is, is being the best you can possibly be on that day.

MJ: What separates a guy who comes in first place from the rest of the

pack. What's the difference?

BJ: Inches. Just a little bit, a little bit...I think again it's a head

game. I consider the competition 80 percent a mental challenge, mental, 20

percent physical. You know, they think the decathlon, ten events...it's so

physically tough that....and it's physically tough to train and get ready

for it...when you actually get there it's not that terribly bad, but the

real tough part is bringing, again, bringing that performance out on that

day, and beating everybody mentally. I mean, the preparation that you have

to do, putting yourself in position to win, mentally putting yourself

there, and coming up with the performance. When you need the performance

you have...the guy who's gonna win is the guy who comes through. It's not

the guy who doesn't, you know. So, it's...it's a mental game.

MJ: You talk a lot in this book about post 1976. What was it like coming

down off of that high? You were on the box of...American cereal boxes all

across America...

BJ: Yeah, Wheaties.

MJ: You were doing commercials, you were on T.V.... but it was a tough...

BJ: It's a very tough transition to make. The life of a world-class

athlete, the life that I was living for those last six years of my career

from 1970 through 1976 was not what I would consider a well-rounded

lifestyle, because you exist on earth only to score points. Your entire

day surrounds training. You have to be very selfish with your time, with

your energy. You don't have to grow up as a human being. You just have to

score points. You don't have to mature, you don't have to worry about

business, just score points. Well, all of a sudden within a forty-eight

hour period in 1976, on the 29th and 30th of July, I retired that night.

That was the last meet of my life. You were the best in the world at what

you did, but that doesn't mean that you certainly prepared yourself for

other things, and all of a sudden I happened to be the right guy in the

right place at the right time, and all of a sudden you're thrust out into

the world in areas that you are not confident in. For instance, a couple

of months after the Games, I was doing a show for...in the United States

called "Good Morning America" and the guy says, 'OK, now turn around and

read the Teleprompter,' and all of a sudden I was that dyslexic kid back

in class who was afraid to read in front of the class. You still have all

those demons in your life that you have to deal with, and so I thought 'boy

I better learn this real fast,' and it was a tough transition, you have to

make business decisions...I never had to worry about business before. I

think at the beginning I relied too much on other people to make decisions

for me. It's the easy way out, but...and I surrounded myself with...some

people that I don't think were...had my best interests at heart. They

had...they wanted the money, the position I was in and all that sort of

stuff. You get all these hangers on...and so, it just takes a long time to

mature, to grow up, and I would have to say through the middle 80's was

probably my toughest time. I had basically lost all the money, everybody

else had gotten it. It was all gone. I'm living by myself in a small

place. It was, it was about five-six years in there where I just lost my

drive...why work? why do these things?...so it was really tough on me. It

wasn't until almost about 1990 when you're approaching that big age,

forty...all of a sudden I started thinking, "Wait a second, I was at my

best when I was on a great journey, when I was going for the Olympic Games,

when I had business things I was trying to do, I was at my best, and I

think everybody's at their best when they wake up in the morning they're

excited about life because they've got something to do...whether it's

improve the relationship with your kids or your husband or wife or build a

business or you know, be athletic, or whatever it may be, you're at your

best when you're going after something. So, in 1990, I said, I, I really

have to turn my life around. I've gotta do something here. And, so I

started getting back into business ,started to get back into life, and then

six months later I met my wife Kris, which was the greatest thing to ever

happen to me. She's the love of my life, my partner, my friend, my lover,

you know, the wife to my kids. She's been wonderful, and we need mentors

in life, we need people to surround ourselves and then she helped me

believe in Bruce Jenner and make me at my best instead of...she wasn't

taking anything from me, she just wanted me to be at my best and I wanted

her to be at her best, 'cause she had gone through some tough times, and so

the two of us met and we've been able to build a wonderful life together.

That's why today, I can do the book. I couldn't have done this book, you

know, six, seven years ago.

MJ: Back to the Olympics, would you have competed in 1980 if the U.S. had

participated in the Olympics?

BJ: No.

MJ: You decided to get out.

BJ: I was done. You know, it was the right decision to make at the time.

I believe in a quote from Roger Bannister, the great four-minute miler, the

first guy to break four minutes in the mile, the British runner. I saw a

quote from him before the Games in 1976 and actually had it super-imposed

over a picture of me finishing the 1972 Olympic Games, and it really summed

up what I thought about sports and what he said is, 'Only in something like

running can finality be achieved, but it is not the type of finality that

leaves you with nothing to live for, because sport is not the main aim in

life. Yet, to achieve perfection in one area, however small, makes it

possible to face uncertainties in the more difficult problems in life."

You know, that summed it up for me. Sports is a game. We can only play it

at that level, for a very short period in our life. We have to take what

we've learned in sports and in that competitive arena and take that same

competitive spirit and, and direct it towards life, towards business,

towards family and everything, because life is not easy. We live in a very

competitive world, you know, we start competing as a young person, you

know, for our brothers and sisters for that toy. We're in high school and

we're competing against the person sitting next to us to get a better grade

so maybe we can get into that college. College is extremely competitive.

Then you get into business, there's nothing more competitive. The Olympic

arena is easy, you know who your competition is. The business arena is

extremely tough and you have to be competitive there. And it's that same

competitive mind that an athlete has that a business person has or somebody

else has when you're trying to build something and you know trying to make

something of your life or some business.

MJ: Bruce, your book, "Finding the Champion" ...is much more than just a

sports book. It's really about life, how to play the game of life. Talk

about it, but why you decided to write it.

BJ: Well, I decided to write it first, well the main reason is, is what I

learned from my Olympic experience and over the 20 years since then, is we

have tremendous potential as human beings to overcome obstacles to take our

life to kind of that next level. We all have the ability. I call it that

champion that's down deep inside. I've learned it in my life. That

experience in 1976 which people remember you for, but since then, people

were inspired by that story, you know, what happened in the Games. I get

letters still today, 20 years later. People tell me what an impact that

had on them, and so I wanted to take the book and I was in the right place

in my life. I kind of had my life together for the first time and I said,

I want that kind of that story to live on to help motivate others, other

people. But more importantly, I want people to believe in themselves. Too

many people do not, you know, they go through life and they just live from

one day to the next, you know, they never get anywhere in life because

they're just kind of just, living life, just...just you know, getting

through the daily routine everyday. But life is always at its best when

you are climbing a mountain, when you're trying to do something, when

you're trying to overcome obstacles. Take your life to that next level,

and so the book is really for me to help people believe in themselves like

I had to believe in myself for so many years, and to give them the tools,

the keys that they need to take their life to the next level. I would like

them to read the book and be inspired by the stories that are in it and the

lessons that have to be learned but also do some sort of searching in

themselves, sitting down and saying, 'O.K. this is where I'm at in my

life,' read this and say 'O.K. how can I go to the next level,' because,

the story is ... in the stories that I have and the steps that I did

is....what I did is, is I took the decathlon, the event that I ran and used

it kind of as a metaphor for life, because we do have so many events that

we run in our lives. We're high...you know, we're dealing with kids, we're

dealing with, you know, your husband or wife, you have parents that you

have to deal with still and then you get out into the business world and

you run all the different lives that you have to...all the different events

that you have to run in business, and on and on...and I took that as this

little metaphor and I said, O.K. how can I take the ten events and break it

into ten steps, and I was able to do it and play with each one of the

events, for instance the hundred meters, the first event in the decathlon.

To me, that signifies starting, it's the first event, you've got come out

of the blocks in the hundred meters quickly, so how do you get started?

What have you been putting off for so many years? Well, let's get started,

you know, what do you have to do to get started? Talk about people

who...because they started something look what it grew into...you know, and

then another event, the shot put, you know, the third event in the

decathlon, to me that signifies strength because you have to be strong to

throw the shot put far, well, what are your strengths in life, too many

people do not accomplish things in life because they, they're too worried

about their weaknesses. They say, "Oh, I can't do this because of....."

this reason and that reason and everything...there's a million reasons why

not to go after something in life, O.K. and it's very easy to be complacent

and let them take over, but let's start with your strengths. What are you

good at? You know, another event, the pole vault, eventually you're going

to reach a height, you're gonna keep jumping higher and higher until

eventually you reach a height that you fail at, you don't make. What about

failure? How do we deal with failure?And so I go through all the ten events

in the decathlon and give ten steps to really soul searching and hopefully

you can find where you're at in your life and where you want to go.

MJ: You have a great story about Colonel Sanders who started Kentucky

Fried Chicken.... Tell us that story.

BJ: Yeah, well, I mean, it is a great story of a person who got started

with something. He had basically, the only thing he had in his life was a

recipe. Now people say, 'Oh, I don't have this, and I can't do it because

this....' all he had was a recipe. It was a good recipe, but I gotta start

somewhere, so let's start with this recipe, but he went out and tried to

sell his recipe and he went to hundreds of restaurants and nobody would

say, you know... 'No, we don't need your.....' 'I'll sell you this recipe

and then you can do this and...' on an on...' and it just didn't work out,

but then he goes to the hundred and first place and all of a sudden he gets

a bite and all of a sudden things start working and once it started it

started growing and growing and growing, you know and it's every, every

person out there has a starting point. Arnold Schwarzenegger I talk about,

a great movie star, but I knew Arnold back when he, in 1975 when he was in

the gym. I met him in the gym. I'm looking at this guy and he's so built

up and so big and so massive and all he does is flex, you know and I'm like

into real-sport athletics and everything you know, and he couldn't hardly

speak English, you know, he had such an accent, and I'm looking at him in

the gym in 1975 and thinking..."What is this guy going to do with his

life?" You know, where is he going to go with his life? And, we've been

friends ever since, but look what he has done, he took what he had, what he

was good at and that was being big and have a presence and he took that and

he built a movie career out of it, you know, just because he started

something, just 'cause he wanted to do that, so I try to talk a lot about

that, about people who overcome tremendous obstacles, but didn't have much,

but built something out of it.

MJ: What is your life like today? What's Bruce Jenner doing these days?

BJ: I'm too busy. Well, I have nine children and one on the way. Whoa,

so you know what I've been doing, car pool. Yes. Car pool is what I do for

a living. Yeah, if I never worked another day in my life I would be able

to car pool everyday. But no, I do a wide variety of things. My wife,

Kris, and I, we run the business. She primarily takes care of the office

and really runs the business on a day to day basis. I do a tremendous

amount of speaking. That takes me on the road an awful lot where I've

spoken to every major, fortune five-hundred company here in the United

States and in other places throughout the world, but talking to sales

forces, having them find that champion within, and that's been fun, that's

really where the book started out because I had been doing it for so long

but in a fifty minute presentation you can only say so much, you know, I

wanted to expand on that, and expand the speaking business. That's one of

the reasons why I did the book. But then I also have companies that I run.

I have a food supplement company called Team Jenner, a nutritional

products company. I have an aircraft sales company. We sell corporate

jets that keep going by and making noise. And, I also have other companies

that I represent like Coca Cola and Visa, where I work with them and work

with their sales forces and do a wide variety of things, but generally,

business has been very good. It's been great.

MJ: Any plans or goals that you haven't achieved yet that you're working

on?

BJ: Well, it's just the two companies. It's the Team Jenner, getting

nutritional products company to a viable successful company taking it to

the top, that's the main thing we're working on right now. Plus the

aircraft sales business. I enjoy business. I enjoy building something,

and about a year ago I started on this food supplement company and we're

just coming to market now, everything is in place and it's been a long hard

process in trying to put the right people together, and so that's really my

main motivation right now is to get that off, and to raise these kids so

they get out the door.

MJ: Bruce, thanks for joining us today.

BJ: All right, it's my pleasure.