Olympian Who Quit Canada’s Team Over Harassment Allegations Wins Gold Medal For America

An Olympian who left team Canada’s bobsledding team after filing harassment allegations won the gold medal Sunday for the U.S., multiple sources reported.

Kaillie Humphries, 36, won her third Olympic gold medal but her first representing the U.S. after she left the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) in 2018 after filing a harassment complaint, CNN reported. Humphries won her first gold medal in the two-woman bobsled event in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and her second during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

“A lot of things were going through my mind. It has been a journey to get here and it hasn’t always been guaranteed,” Humphries said after her win Sunday, CNN reported. “It hasn’t always been easy. I have had a lot of fears and doubts. I have had highs and lows.”

Humphries filed a harassment complaint after earning a bronze medal in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, claiming she was verbally and mentally harassed by her coach, according to CNN. Humphries then requested that BCS release her from the team so that she could represent the U.S.

Humphries lives in the U.S., and she became a citizen in December 2021, The New York Times reported.

“Just the feeling of pride and accomplishment and the fact that I never gave up on myself, that a country stood behind me,” Humphries said after her victory, CNN reported. “I was able to be here and put my best foot forward and to know that that worked, and that my best is the best in the world, it’s something I’ve always believed, but it’s definitely something I have doubted more times than not.”

Humphries is now the first woman to have won Olympic gold medals for both the U.S. and Canada and the first woman to win three golds in bobsledding, according to WDSU News.