Big Read: Tonight, almost two decades after her last Olympic appearance, Canadian marathoner Malindi Elmore is back at the Games — and chasing a dream she’d given up on years ago. (KrRutherford)
Almost two decades after her last Olympic appearance, Canadian marathoner Malindi Elmore is back at the Games and chasing a dream she’d given up on years ago.he nerves usually calm for Malindi Elmore as soon as she starts a race, but the 2019 Chevron Houston Marathon was a different animal. Yes, there was the prospect of the daunting 41.
She’d been invited to a meet at his club after winning an elementary school race, which is how the club scouted new members. Usually, kids who won at that invitational meet stuck around to speak with coaches about their future. Not Elmore. She went straight home after winning her 1,500m race in 5:07, a time that caught Van Tighem’s eye as he went through results later that day. Elmore had run only about a minute slower than the gold medal-winning time at the 1992 Olympics a year prior.
In Athens at the Olympics, Elmore had a respiratory infection and she was exhausted from earning her berth. She felt strong in her race early on, but with 150m to go, everyone else in her heat kicked to the finish and she didn’t have another gear. “I was tapped out,” she says. Expected to make the final based on her previous times, Elmore was instead one and done.
“I think partly what’s helped me is my life revolves, for most of the day, around everyone else in my family. And that’s a good thing for me. I feel so fulfilled,” she says, while cutting potatoes so she and Hood don’t have to scramble to make dinner later. “Running isn’t all-or-nothing anymore.” “That was crushing,” Elmore says. “I was so frustrated, angry and heartbroken — and felt really robbed and really unsupported by our federation, to be honest. They didn’t understand what the top athletes in the world were doing, that we were being asked to do more than what other top athletes were doing for their preparation.”
A month out from the 2012 Games, Elmore won trials in Calgary. She beat two teammates who’d go on to represent Canada at the Olympics and then stepped off the track for good. Van Tighem was in tears after the race. Her return to running and rapid ascent in the marathon world has caught the eye of many Canadian teammates. “She is, in my eyes, the true definition of a super woman,” says 800m runner Melissa Bishop, who sustained an injury to her hamstring just before the Games and didn’t make it out of her heat in Tokyo.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Eight years after leaving track behind, Elmore returns to Olympics as marathonerMalindi Elmore, 41, reinvents herself as marathon runner eight years after leaving track behind
Read more »
Eight years after leaving track behind, Elmore returns to Olympics as marathonerMalindi Elmore, 41, reinvents herself as marathon runner eight years after leaving track behind
Read more »
Five stories to watch on SaturdayCanada’s Malindi Elmore of Kelowna, B.C. one of the key athletes to watch on Saturday
Read more »
Tokyo Olympics: Canada women’s soccer team eyes gold as final set to kick off, 8:00 a.m. ETPlus, Canadians race in three medal events this morning, including Andre De Grasse in the 4x100-m relay
Read more »
United States beats Australia to win bronze in women's soccerThe United States bounced back from the semifinal loss to Canada in the women's soccer event, beating Australia 4-3 to secure a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Read more »