Olympic legend Kaillie Humphries opens up on impact of women’s sports advocacy on Team USA relationships

Olympic champion Kaillie Humphries says her advocacy against transgender athletes competing in women’s sports has created “awkward, tense moments” with some Team USA teammates and strained existing friendships.

Humphries, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and XX-XY Athletics ambassador, told OutKick she recently received the brand’s “Courage Wins Award” and plans to direct the funding toward her foundation supporting female athletes’ careers and family-building needs.

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As a California resident, she plans to vote Republican in the coming gubernatorial election. She is currently pregnant with her second child, and if she has a girl, and if the state’s current policy that allows males to compete in girls’ sports continues, it could contribute to her leaving the state.

She says lending her voice to the “Save Women’s Sports” movement has brought some disagreements with teammates and friends in the Olympic community.

“I have teammates within bobsled, I have teammates within Team USA who believe in a different side, for sure,” Humphries said.

“For sure, it’s created awkward, tense moments. I think it’s created tense moments even within friendships that were there.”

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She said disagreements have the potential to become heated, but emphasized that many fellow athletes have maintained respect for her despite their opposing views.

“And I think that while it creates a bit of tension, no one’s willing to cross the line. It doesn’t make you a bad person because you believe something different than somebody else,” she said.

Humphries said her goal is to preserve the opportunities she enjoyed throughout her career for other female athletes.

“I’ve had these opportunities because it has remained for biological females. And that’s something that I believe in and that I’m going to push,” she said.

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Kaillie Armbruster Humphries of Team United States competes in the Women’s Monobob Bobsleigh Heat 3 on day ten of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Cortina Sliding Centre on Feb. 16, 2026 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Daniel Kopatsch/VOIGT/GettyImages)

She also argued that transgender athletes should have opportunities to compete in categories based on their biological sex.

“Sport is meant to be an open place for everybody. I do believe that,” she said.

The International Olympic Committee adopted a policy in March restricting eligibility for the women’s category at IOC events, beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, through one-time SRY gene screening, with specified rare exceptions. The policy does not apply to grassroots or recreational sports.

Humphries said she is willing to discuss the issue with people who are respectful and open to hearing different perspectives, but does not approach those conversations with the intention of changing their minds.

When relationships involve broader disagreements or a risk of personal attacks, she said she sometimes keeps interactions focused on the sport.

“We don’t talk outside of sport. We don’t talk about personal stuff. We leave it to just in sport on a need-to-know basis, on minimum interaction, so that it’s possible to keep that respect there,” she said.

Despite the tension, Humphries rejected the suggestion that the issue would have undermined the chemistry behind her Olympic gold medals.

“I don’t think it would have affected the chemistry with me and my teammates. Because I would have made sure that it didn’t,” she said.

“The common goal has to be achieved and be the number one priority above personal belief and above personal self.”

The debate also figures into her decisions as a mother living in California. Humphries, who has a 2-year-old son and is expecting her second child in late January, said disagreements with the state’s politics have prompted her to consider moving.

“I have considered moving to other states because of it, for sure,” she said.

She identified women’s sports and her children’s future schooling as personal concerns. California law permits students to participate in school athletic teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity.

Asked whether having a daughter could influence her decision to remain in California under its current sports policies, Humphries said, “It could,” while stressing that a move would depend on more than one issue.

She said she plans to vote Republican, but did not name a candidate.

Meanwhile, Humphries is working to help other athletes overcome the financial pressures of pursuing elite competition while starting families.

USA’s Kaillie Humphries holds an USA flag after competing to win bronze in the bobsleigh women’s monobob heat 4 at Cortina Sliding Centre during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Feb. 16, 2026. (Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)

XX-XY Athletics announced Oct. 2 that it was expanding its Courage Wins initiative through an investment in TrailBlazeHer, the foundation Humphries established with her husband.

The foundation’s published plans include $5,000 grants for athletes pursuing Olympic careers and $10,000 grants for family-building expenses, with distribution tied to fundraising milestones.

Humphries said her own experience with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and endometriosis forced difficult decisions about whether to spend available money on starting a family, medical needs or her athletic career.

“And it was excruciating having to make that choice,” she said.

“And so, for me, regardless of what happens in sport, it was important I was able to start a foundation so that I can help other women. So hopefully they don’t have to make those same choices.”