Winter Olympics: Kaillie Humphries' 10,000-mile race to reach Beijing 2022

After a red-eye flight across the Atlantic, Kaillie Humphries' Olympic dream was riding on a series of history and geography questions.

«Who was the American president in World War One?», «Name one of the longest rivers in the United States» and «Name a state that borders Mexico».

With less than 10 weeks to go before Beijing 2022, the Canadian-born double Olympic bobsleigh champion was fit and at the top of her sport — but without an American passport, she was not going to compete in China.

She had quit the Canadian national team three years ago after making allegations of abuse and harassment against a coach, and had since been competing for her American husband's homeland.

However Olympic rules state competitors need to be citizens of the country they represent — effectively to stop countries poaching athletes just for a Games.

For Humphries, that meant months of «of paperwork, a lot of back-and-forth phone calls, a lot of sleepless nights» while the immigration process ran its course and the Olympic clock ticked down.

And of course she still had to train for a Games, without knowing if there was any point.

«I'd be lying on the couch saying, 'What is this even for?' Why kill myself in the gym?» the 36-year-old told BBC Sport.

Then one day she finally got the email she had been waiting for inviting her for her citizenship interview and test in San Diego — but getting there was not going to be straightforward from 5,000 miles away in Europe.

Still, just getting to that point had also been far from easy.

Humphries won her first Olympic gold at her home Games in Vancouver in 2010, defending the title four years later in Sochi and then taking bronze at Pyeongchang 2018 to rank as Canada's most successful Olympic bobsleigher.

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