U.S. Olympic bobsled champion Kaillie Humphries endorses President-elect Donald Trump
Kaillie Humphries, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in bobsled, endorsed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in a social media statement on November 7, 2024. The 35-year-old athlete cited Trump's support for protecting women's sports, celebrating the U.S. men's hockey team, and enforcing immigration laws, adding that she supports him "as a legal immigrant myself from Canada."[1][2]
Born in Calgary, Canada, Humphries won gold medals in the two-woman bobsled at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, and in the team relay at Sochi, all representing Canada. She switched nationalities to the United States in 2019, naturalized in 2021, and won gold in the women's monobob at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.[3][4]
Humphries' comments come amid ongoing debates on sex eligibility criteria in women's sports, highlighted by controversies at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting won gold medals in the women's category despite having been disqualified from the 2023 International Boxing Association World Championships for failing to meet gender eligibility tests based on chromosome analysis.[5][6]
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) cleared both athletes to compete in Paris, stating they met competition eligibility and passport criteria.[6][7]
A United Nations report released on October 28, 2024, by Special Rapporteur on violence against women Reem Alsalem documented cases in which more than 600 female athletes did not medal across more than 400 competitions in 29 sports, totaling over 890 medals, due to competition against male or trans-identifying male athletes.[8]
World Athletics has restricted eligibility for its elite women's categories since March 2023 to athletes who are not testosterone-regulated, excluding those with differences of sex development (DSD) unless they maintain testosterone levels below 2.5 nmol/L for 24 months.[9][10]
Sources
- New York Post, "Olympic bobsled champ Kaillie Humphries endorses Trump as legal immigrant," November 7, 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/11/07/sports/olympic-bobsled-champ-kaillie-humphries-endorses-trump-as-legal-immigrant/
- Fox News, "US Olympic gold medalist bobsledder Kaillie Humphries endorses Trump: 'As a legal immigrant from Canada'," November 7, 2024, https://www.foxnews.com/sports/us-olympic-bobsled-gold-medalist-kaillie-humphries-endorses-trump-legal-immigrant-from-canada
- Olympics.com, "Kaillie Humphries," accessed November 2024, https://olympics.com/en/athletes/kaillie-humphries
- World Athletics, athlete profile (via Olympics context), accessed November 2024, https://worldathletics.org/athletes/canada/kaillie-humphries-14255138
- Reuters, "Boxers disqualified for being women return to compete at Paris Olympics," July 30, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/ioc-allow-two-boxers-who-failed-gender-tests-compete-paris-2024-2024-07-30/
- BBC News, "Imane Khelif: Olympic champion beats Angela Carini in fight that lasted 46 seconds," August 1, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/cwye9yx182do
- Olympics.com, "Imane Khelif," accessed November 2024, https://olympics.com/en/athletes/imane-khelif
- United Nations, "Violence against women and girls in sport," October 28, 2024, https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/violence-against-women-and-girls-in-sport/Reem-alsalem-VAWG-sport-20241028.pdf
- World Athletics, "Eligibility Regulations for the Female Classification," effective March 31, 2023 (updated), accessed November 2024, https://worldathletics.org/download/download/?jsfilename=20231025_Eligibility%20Regulations%20for%20the%20Female%20Classification_1.pdf
- World Athletics official site, "Female eligibility," accessed November 2024, https://worldathletics.org/competitions/elite/world-athletics-indoor-championships-glasgow24/news/female-eligibility
