By TONY GUERRERO
Hays Post
Before becoming a multi-time Olympic medalist, Kaillie Humphries was the athlete cut from her first Olympic team just days before competing.
Hays High School students and athletes had the opportunity on Tuesday to hear from Humphries, a Canadian-born American bobsledder. She has family in Hays, including a niece who attends Hays High.
Humphries has won multiple Olympic medals and world championships in bobsled. She spoke about overcoming obstacles that could have deterred her from achieving her athletic dreams and finding international success.
"I've had a long career in the sport of bobsled. I started when I was 17 years old," Humphries said. "Each and every year, I got better and faster. Fast forward to now, I am a six-time Olympic athlete, I have six Olympic medals, three gold and three bronze and I've competed for two different countries."
Humphries competed in her first four Olympics for Team Canada until 2019, when she began representing Team USA. Humphries said there is no perfect path to success and that hardships along the way are inevitable, something she experienced at her first Olympic Games.
"It was in 2006 and I went into the Olympics thinking 'I'm going to be an Olympian. I'm going to get to compete at my first Olympic Games.' I was 20 years old," she said. "Four days before the event, my coach came over and said, 'We think there are better teams out there that are better suited teammates for each other. You're the one odd man out.'"
With her parents in Italy to support her, Humphries said she was devastated after all the hard work and training she had put in. She considered going home and quitting for good, but said she did not want it to be the end of her story.
This was followed by what Humphries called an eight-year investment in learning to become a good bobsled driver. At her next Olympics in 2010, Humphries said she faced a lot of doubt and was told that "this isn't your Olympics. It's the first time you're going to compete. There are others that have put in more work ... this is their time to shine."
"I felt really defeated," Humphries said. "I felt like no one really believed in me."
With outside support, Humphries learned to reject limitations placed by others and was determined to give it her all because that was what she could control. "Why can't it be me?" she said.
Humphries went on to become the 2010 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled.
At the 2014 Olympic Games, Humphries said she entered with a big target on her back after winning gold in 2010. She went on to become the first and only female athlete to successfully defend an Olympic gold medal in women's bobsled after years of consistent hard work.
"It's not something that happens overnight. It's about working every single day. It's the nutrition, it's the sleep, it's the recovery and it's the mental side. Some days are easy and then there are days that are hard. You don't want to wake up, work hard, and you just want a break. It's going to take some great and hard days that you're going to have to work through," she said.
After winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Olympics for Team Canada, Humphries said she had a coach she disagreed with. She left Team Canada for Team USA because of the conflict and safety concerns.
"I told the people that I needed to tell and they were forcing an early retirement on me," Humphries said. "That was also the point when I knew that I was done competing for Team Canada and that's why I came over to Team USA. I found my people within the sport that wanted to support me to continue my career."
Despite the medals she had won up to that point, Humphries said she had to start from the beginning in the U.S., including buying her own bobsled, which cost $70,000.
Humphries went on to help create a new women's Olympic event, the monobob, to challenge gender inequality in the Olympics. She won the first Olympic gold medal for Team USA in monobob in 2022.
"To win the Olympics in 2022 again for Team USA to stand up there and sing the national anthem. It was a real big honor and to do it in front of the coaches who said I was done at one point was a real big slap in the face to them. That felt really nice," she said.
To make the transition from Canada to the U.S., Humphries went through an immigration and citizenship process, which was unique for her team because every other U.S. Olympian was already a citizen.
Humphries also said she got to where she is today by balancing her personal life and the goals she went on to achieve. She said balance is not equal every day and that priorities shift, with some days requiring full focus on training and others on family.
Humphries said she would eventually like to coach.
"I got a lot of knowledge to pass down to the next generation, but I want to focus on my family right after sports and whenever I'm done for the immediate future. That'll be an eight-year goal down the road," she said.
Humphries answered several questions from students following her presentation and allowed them to get a closer look at the Olympic gold medals she has won.
