YANQING, China — Kaillie Humphries crossed the finish line, stood on her sled and defiantly posed with folded arms.
A two-time Olympic gold medallist with Canada, the women's bobsled icon was back atop the podium on the sporting world's biggest stage.
Only this time, she was decked out in Stars and Stripes.
Following a trying four years that included accusations of harassment leading to an acrimonious split with the country of her birth, Humphries won the inaugural monobob race at the Beijing Games on Monday in her first Olympics representing the United States.
"It's a feeling of pride and elation and excitement," she said. "This one feels more emotional than most. It just really hits the heartstrings.
"I feel very proud. I feel very honoured ... I feel like I've found my people."
Humphries won with a dominant combined four-run time of four minutes 19.27 seconds, besting American teammate Elana Meyers Taylor by 1.54 seconds — an eternity in bobsled and the biggest margin of victory at the Olympics in 42 years.
"It all worked," Humphries said. "I gave my heart and soul to this sport, to this country, to what I love to do."
Canada's Christine de Bruin — Humphries' former teammate — finished third in 4:21.03 in the new women's pilot-only bobsled discipline at Yanqing National Sliding Centre.
"It's sweet, it's insane," the 32-year-old from Stony Plain, Alta., said after winning her first Olympic medal.Â
"It's so surreal."
Toronto's Cynthia Appiah, meanwhile, was eighth on the 1,615-metre, 16-turn track located about 90 kilometres north of Beijing.
Humphries fought back tears with her hand over her heart as she sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner' before hugging Meyers Taylor for the traditional photo on the top step of the podium after the trio received their medals, but didn't do the same with de Bruin.
"She is one of the greats," said de Bruin, choosing her words carefully. "To be up there with her is pretty cool."
Humphries and Meyers Taylor are the first women to win bobsled medals at four straight Olympics, but the latter said they've had their "differences" as teammates.
"It was actually easier when she was competing for Canada to be friends, because we're not competing for resources, we're not competing for brakemen," said Meyers Taylor, who tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in China and was a question mark to compete. "But I have so much respect for her.
"She's done incredible things for the sport, and will continue to do incredible things for the sport."
Humphries won gold piloting for Canada in the two-woman discipline at both the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, and finished third in 2018, but then had a very public split with the program.
She started racing for the U.S. in 2019 after being granted her release by Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton.
The Calgary product's third podium-topping performance at a Games also came in the wake of a number of challenges just getting to China.
Humphries didn't require U.S. citizenship to race at other international events, but needed a passport for the Olympics.
"I'm used to controlling ... a lot of aspects of my career," she said. "But that was one that no matter how hard I fought for, it was never going to be in my control."
The 36-year-old got the proper documents with just weeks to spare, but then tested positive for COVID-19 last month before recovering in time to make the trip to Beijing following a roller-coaster stretch.
"To have to part ways, to give up a career, to walk away, to have to stand up for myself in order to put myself in the best state mentally and physically to be safe, I had to advocate for myself," she said. "And that isn't always the easiest thing to do. I had to overcome and work really hard through a lot of uncertainty and a lot of doubt.
"I had to rely heavily on my teammates, on my coaching staff, on my family and friends, and stick very close to a very small-knit group of people that believed that I still had it."
Humphries filed a harassment complaint with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton — the sport's national governing body — in 2018, claiming she was "repeatedly and horribly verbally and mentally abused by the head coach."
"I have repeatedly told Bobsleigh Canada, who has done nothing to stop him, protect me, or get a timely resolve so I can be back competing," she wrote in an email to The Canadian Press in September 2019. "I was forced back to working with him multiple times, which resulted in major mental health issues over this past year."
Todd Hays, who led the U.S. women's team from 2011 to 2014, has been Canada's head coach since 2017.
The allegations remain under investigation.
Humphries, who's also competing in the two-woman event in China, piloted Canada to those back-to-back gold medals in 2010 and 2014 with brakewoman Heather Moyse, making them the first duo to repeat as Olympic women's bobsled champions.
They carried Canada's flag in the closing ceremony in Sochi, Russia, eight years ago.
Humphries, who won the 2014 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete, and Phylicia George claimed bronze in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, before Humphries left the program.
She piloted Canada to gold at the world championships in the two-woman event in 2012 and 2013, and in 2020 and 2021 for the U.S.
Humphries also won the first monobob race at the last year's worlds.
Asked if she had any words for Canada after her gold for the U.S., Humphries began with "not really" before continuing.
"I'm still Canadian," said the dual citizen. "I will never forget my time as part of Canada, and I am so proud and honoured to still consider myself Canadian. I am also American. To me, it's not a rivalry. I'm not picking and choosing one country over the other. Canada will always hold my past. Every single time I represented Team Canada, I did so with my heart and soul.
"The U.S.A. has my future."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2022.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
