History maker Kaillie Humphries shares motherhood and future career plans
The American bobsledder became the first woman to win Olympic monobob gold in Beijing. Now, the 37-year-old shares how she hopes to juggle her career with becoming a mother – and opens up about her health issues.
Bobsleigh
Kaillie Humphries had just made history. As she stood atop the medal podium at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, Humphries sang the Star-Spangled Banner as the inaugural champion in women's monobob.
It was a special gold medal, not least because Humphries had spent much of her career campaigning for a second women's race to be added to the Olympic competition programme (alongside the two-woman event).
That happened on 14 February 2022, exactly one year ago. In an interview last month with Olympics.com, Humphries recalls looking back: "For me to be able to actually advocate for, and then compete in an event I advocated for, was really awesome.
"To be able to be the first to do it and to know that I get to go down in the history books for it, it's a really special feeling for me."
Things have changed somewhat for Humphries since then. While she's been back on the IBSF Bobsleigh World Cup circuit this season, the Canadian-born American – who also won two Olympic gold medals in two-woman for her birth country in 2010 and 2014 – is preparing to step away, at least temporarily.
For one simple reason: to start a family. The catch? Unlike many women, Humphries suffers from endometriosis – a medical condition with severe side effects which can cause ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.
The following video is also available to watch for readers in the United States:
What Kaillie Humphries did after Beijing 2022 and her IVF journey
Humphries remembers returning home after Beijing 2022 to San Diego, California, one of the most southwestern cities in the United States and far removed from the cold of Beijing.
There, she celebrated with her husband, dog, friends, and family – "we had quite a few parties" – before taking time off from even thinking about sport or daily training.
"I took about three months off and in those three months my husband and I started our IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) journey. We knew after these Games that we wanted a family."
That brought with it the health concerns she had to consider. "I learned a couple of years earlier that IVF is the safest, best option (because) I have stage four endometriosis; infertility is one of the side effects," Humphries says.
"Endometriosis is when the lining of your uterus grows outside of your uterus," she explains. "Basically what happens is when a woman gets her period, you can shed the lining. When the lining grows outside of the uterus, obviously you can't shed it, so the body turns that into scar tissue."
Stage four endometriosis, Humphries adds, signifies that "that (lining) tissue has turned into scar tissue and has started to grow on other organs that I need to live.
"(With IVF), I avoid the ectopic portion of trying to get pregnant naturally, which can be and have devastating effects not only to a future child but to myself," Humphries explains. "(IVF) can prevent, and (the specialists) can help manage in case of, miscarriages and other things.
"And so in order for us to safely have a child, what would be best for a pregnancy and for myself is to go through IVF. So we started that part (over summer) … we now have a total of 10 eggs, viable, healthy embryos."
Kaillie Humphries on discovering her diagnosis
Humphries might never have found out about her endometriosis, and therefore begun her plans to start a family, were it not for a medical check in the years leading up towards Beijing.
She had been suffering from recurring hip problems and was worried that she might have a torn labrum or a sports injury that would hamper her at the Winter Olympics. Instead, she got a surprise.
"A hip MRI just to check led to an ovarian cyst that was very large," she remembers. "With the Olympics coming up, we knew the best way to make sure that physically I was the healthiest going into an Olympic year (was) to get rid of it, going in to surgically remove the cyst.
"That's when the doctors found the endometriosis – had I not done that, I would never have known that I had it."
Endometriosis is notoriously hard to diagnose. On average, it takes around 7.5 years to diagnose the condition. The World Health Organisation estimates the condition affects nearly 10 per cent of the world's women and girls of reproductive age.
"There's a lot more research that needs to be done in order to help future women," Humphries points out.
Kaillie Humphries: Balancing sport and parenting as a female athlete
Women in sport often face disadvantages when trying to start a family, having to put their sporting careers to one side and sometimes losing out on funding as a result, and many choose to put off having children as a result.
But the idea of family planning only came to Humphries fairly recently, when she considered what her condition might mean for her. She says the topic was never really a consideration for her as a young bobsledder in Canada.
"Family planning was never high, and I also grew up in a sport which for years was a very male-dominated sport. I was told that in order to have a family for women in bobsled, you had to end your career. And I saw a lot of women get to that 30, 31, 32 years old and retire (to start a family)."
However, seeing women athletes in their 30s in other sports successfully continue their careers after giving birth encouraged Humphries. "You're seeing the likes of Allyson Felix and Serena Williams have kids and stay world class, be able to come back, be able to have a family and a career.
"And that motivated me, and that was exciting because finally I'm in a position where I don't have to give it up. I don't think we should have to choose our careers and our hopes and goals and dreams over having a family – I want both."
That's a role Humphries – who intends to take her break from bobsleigh at the end of the season in March – hopes to play within her own sport.
"I hope especially within the sport of bobsled to be able to show women, especially the young girls – we have a lot of young women under the age of 26 – this is a brand new (Olympic) cycle, and with the addition of monobob, I hope these women can look at it and go, 'Okay, you know what? I don't have to quit.'"
Humphries's on motherhood and future plans
While Humphries doesn't have to quit her sport, she will still have to take time away from bobsleigh.
It's all part of her long-term plans as the 37-year-old – who first competed at the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010 on her original home track at Whistler – builds up to what she thinks will be her last Games, for now, at Milano Cortina 2026.
"Looking forward, knowing I want to do another four years – I want to go to 2026 – I needed to kind of plan a little bit, which takes the fun out of, you know, having a kid at the same point," she notes.
But with Olympic qualification on the line through her world ranking, that minute level of planning was required if Humphries – the current monobob world number one – is to keep her spot on the ladder.
"I can only take one season off without losing my world ranking. So we started the IVF process and had to push pause for these months to be able to compete this year.
"We'll look to start the implantation process of those embryos in March, this coming March, so this allowed me to start the family planning and still be able to compete this winter so that next winter, if and when God willing I am pregnant, then I can take that winter off to be able to have a kid."
While Milano Cortina 2026 is the end game as of right now – Humphries will be 40 and at her fifth Games if she makes it – that isn't set in stone. With Salt Lake City pursuing interest in hosting the following Olympic Winter Games 2030, the American is tempted to stay on.
"A year ago, I would have said yes," she says when asked if 2026 will be her last year as a top-level athlete. "If Salt Lake City gets 2030, that's going to be a hard thing to say no to. Another home Olympics, this time for Team USA…
"I can't answer that question right now. As long as I'm still successful and I'm winning races, I want to keep going.
"I want to be able to show women in the future that you can have it all, and that age is just a number. It doesn't mean that you can't be good even at 40 or 44 years old, that it doesn't have to stop you from being the best that you can be and being the best in the world.
"We're going to get to 2026 and then see what happens."