Kaillie Humphries, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in bobsled who was born in Canada and naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2021, expressed support for President-elect Donald Trump on social media following the U.S. election.[1][2]

Humphries, 39, won gold medals for Canada at the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in the two-woman event, and for the United States at the 2022 Beijing Games in both the two-woman and women's monobob events. In Instagram stories posted on November 7, 2024, she stated: "As a legal immigrant from Canada, I support President Trump. Protecting women’s sports. Celebrating the men’s hockey team. Enforcing immigration laws."[1][3]

Her endorsement comes amid ongoing debates over eligibility rules in women's sports, particularly regarding athletes with differences of sex development (DSD) or transgender women. The issue gained prominence at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Algerian boxer Imane Khelif won gold in the women's 66kg category after being disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failing a sex chromosome test. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) cleared Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting to compete.[4][5]

Trump has pledged to issue an executive order on his first day in office to ban transgender women from women's sports, aligning with Humphries' stated priorities.[1]

Karoline Leavitt, incoming White House press secretary for the Trump administration, reacted to Humphries' endorsement in a statement to Fox News Digital: "You cannot change your sex. President Trump's Executive Order protecting women's sports made this happen!"[1]

A United Nations report released in October 2024 by Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, highlighted that hundreds of female athletes have lost podium opportunities to biological males in recent years across multiple sports.[6]

Separately, World Athletics Health and Science Department head Dr. Stéphane Bermon presented data at a September 2023 symposium showing an over-representation of athletes with DSD among finalists in women's events at major championships since 2000.[7]

Sources

1. Fox News, "US Olympic bobsled champ Kaillie Humphries endorses Trump, protecting women’s sports," 7 November 2024, https://www.foxnews.com/sports/us-olympic-bobsled-champ-kaillie-humphries-endorses-trump-protecting-womens-sports
2. Olympics.com, "Kaillie Humphries," accessed 10 November 2024, https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/kaillie-humphries
3. Outkick, "Olympic Bobsled Gold Medalist Kaillie Humphries Endorses Trump," 7 November 2024, https://www.outkick.com/sports/olympic-bobsled-gold-medalist-kaillie-humphries-endorses-trump
4. Reuters, "Algeria's Imane Khelif wins Olympic boxing gold after gender row," 9 August 2024, https://www.reuters.com/sports/olympics/algerias-imane-khelif-wins-olympic-boxing-gold-after-gender-row-2024-08-09/
5. IOC, "IOC statement on the current discussion on the eligibility of athletes at the Olympic Games Paris 2024," 2 August 2024, https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-statement-on-the-current-discussion-on-the-eligibility-of-athletes-at-the-olympic-games-paris-2024
6. OHCHR, "Sport should not be a gender-based violent space for women and girls – UN expert," 28 October 2024, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/sport-should-not-be-gender-based-violent-space-women-and-girls-un-expert
7. World Athletics, "World Athletics Symposium 2023: Female eligibility regulations," 18 September 2023, https://worldathletics.org/news/press-releases/world-athletics-council-female-eligibility