Caitlyn Jenner Covers 'Sports Illustrated,' Marking 40 Years Since She Won Olympic Gold

A lot's happened in the 40 years since Caitlyn Jenner took home the gold in the Olympic decathlon in 1976, but the former athlete still likes to take out the prized medal from time to time and show it off. Except now, she keeps it in her nail drawer.

Marking the anniversary of her win, Sports Illustrated tapped Jenner to front its latest issue. Jenner wears a gold sequin jumpsuit, gold rings, and the iconic medal on a gold chain for the cover shoot, looking as much like a champion as she did decades ago. But her interview is more revealing. Jenner is candid about just how far she's come since the games that made her famous. She details the slow process of self-acceptance and the pressure she once felt to live up to expectations of who she was supposed to be.

Jenner says she was always "female inside," but because she wasn't "an effeminate male" she could "hide easily" in the world. "My life was distraction after distraction after distraction," she explains. "Being a macho male was a way for me to try to convince myself that the woman living inside of me really isn't living inside me. Obviously, it didn't work."

Jenner has compassion for the person she was before embracing who she really is: "I loved Bruce," she tells the magazine. "I still love him today. I like what he did and the way he set an example for hard work and dedication. I'm proud of that part of my life. But this woman was living inside me, all my life, and it reached the point where I had to let her live and put Bruce inside. And I am happier, these last 12 months, than I've ever been in my life."

Visit Sports Illustrated to read the full cover story here.

From: Harper's BAZAAR US