Why Kaillie Humphries won Olympic gold for USA instead of Canada
Calgary’s Kaillie Humphries has won gold at a third Olympic Games, but this one is different.
After winning gold for Canada at Sochi 2014 and Vancouver 2010, as well as bronze at PyeongChang 2018, the bobsledder is representing the United States in Beijing.
In the first-ever women’s monobob event, Humphries took home the gold, two spots ahead of Canadian sledder Christine de Bruin, who won bronze.
🚨 OLYMPIC HISTORY🚨
The first-ever Olympic gold medal in women's monobob belongs to Kaillie Humphries 🥇 🇺🇸
🥈 Elana Meyers Taylor 🇺🇸
🥉 Christine de Bruin 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/HAGys2olSb— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 14, 2022
Humphries’ case was a fairly rare one, competing for two different countries in the same sport at the Olympics.
“This is for USA,” Humphries told NBC following the medal win. “This team has been absolutely incredible. I am so honoured to bring back the gold medal to the United States of America.”
Back in 2019, Humphries switched over to represent USA after filing a formal complaint of mental and verbal abuse against Todd Hays, a coach for Bobsleigh Canada.
In an interview with USA Today prior to her event, Humphries explained her reasons for applying for American citizenship that allowed her to compete for Team USA at this year’s Olympics.
“I knew I couldn’t be verbally humiliated on a daily basis anymore,” Humphries said. “I had gotten to a point when I didn’t recognize myself — that moving forward in that scenario was not an option.”
Humphries’ citizenship was granted in December 2021, officially solidifying her status for the Beijing Olympics.
“As hard as it was to walk away from Team Canada, I also somewhat felt let down by an organization, and by the leadership, for which who was supposed to provide a safe environment for me to do my job,” Humphries added. “And they weren’t.”
Humphries has been living in the United States since 2016 and said she felt happy and relieved when she was approved to compete for her new country.
“I was willing to give up an Olympics in order to be safe,” she said. “But I don’t think any athlete should have to make that choice.”
Humphries is competing again this Friday in the two-woman event.