Former Team Canada bobsled star Kaillie Humphries, now representing the United States after an acrimonious split from her previous squad, dedicated her latest Olympic gold to her new country after winning in monobob’s debut at the Beijing Games.
IT'S A GOLD @BobsledKaillie wins the Olympic debut of women's monobob! #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/xDiIG5nutP
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 14, 2022
“This is for USA, honestly,” Humphries told NBC after Monday’s event. “Thank you guys for supporting me, backing me. This team has been absolutely incredible. I am so honoured to bring back the gold medal to the United States of America.”
Canada’s Christine de Bruin captured bronze — the country’s 15th medal at the Games.
American Elana Meyers Taylor overtook de Bruin on the final run to take silver, finishing 1.54 seconds behind Humprhies and .22 ahead of the Canadian.
“I’m so shocked. I can’t believe this just happened,” de Bruin told CBC.
“My first ever World Cup race, I got last place. So (having) bronze right now is just insane.”
Toronto’s Cynthia Appiah finished eighth.
Humphries, a Calgary native now living in California and married to an American, was granted U.S. citizenship two months before the Olympics — making her eligible to represent the country at the Beijing Games. She won Olympic gold medals for Canada in the two-woman event in 2010 and 2014 (when she also was named Canada’s athlete of the year) and bronze in 2018 before her battle against Bobsleigh Skeleton Canada over an alleged abusive coaching environment under her former coach Todd Hays.
During the medal ceremony on Monday, Humprhies sang The Star-Spangled Banner and put her hand on her heart as the anthem was played.
NBC showed watch parties in California and Alberta for Humphries during the final run.
Humphries became the first woman to win Olympic gold for two different countries, and the first Olympian to win gold for both the United States and Canada. She also is the first woman to win three golds in bobsledding, with a chance for a fourth later this week in the two-person bobsled.
When she crossed the finish line, she waved an American flag and chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!”
“As I age, I’ve learned life is very unpredictable and we don’t always know our path forward and what the future holds,” Humphries said. “We do the best we can with each and every obstacle or path change that gets thrown at us. What’s important is to fight for ourselves.”
Bobsleigh Canada granted Humphries, 36, a release in 2019.
Bobsleigh Canada’s original investigation into Humprhies’ allegations was ruled insufficient by the Sports Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada last year, with a new investigation ordered.
Hays, Canada’s current coach, is suing Humphries for defamation.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Humphries has for years pushed for more opportunities for women in bobsled (only men have a four-person event), with the IOC eventually opening the door to the single-person monobob for women this year.
The reigning world champion in the monobob and two-woman events, Humphries led de Bruin by more than a second — a large margin in bobsled — after Sunday’s first two runs of the four-run competition.
De Bruin, a native of Stony Plain, Alta., won two World Cup monobob events this season, making her a strong Olympic contender.
De Bruin is in her second Olympics after finishing seventh in the two-woman event four years ago in Pyeongchang.
— With files from The Associated Press
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