Malindi Elmore retired from running in 2012. Now she's going to her third Olympics

When Malindi Elmore hung up her racing shoes in 2012 and retired from Olympic competition, she was ready for a new phase of life. But it turned out that phase also included competing in the Olympics, just in a different event.

"If you had told me at 20 years old that I'd still be in this sport 24 years later, I think that would be hard to believe. And I, certainly as a younger athlete, would have had a hard time believing I would be a competitive Ironman and marathon runner," said Elmore of Kelowna, B.C.

Elmore started out competing in the 1500 metre. She qualified for her first Olympics in 2004, then missed out on qualifying for the next two Olympic Games by less than a second each time.

But after retiring in 2012, she found a new passion in endurance sports, which eventually brought her back to the Olympics.

Elmore, who is now 44, will compete in the marathon at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It will be her second time competing in the event, after finishing ninth in Tokyo in 2021 with a time of 2:30:59.

"I will never give up the dream of winning an Olympic medal at some point. And this might be the last point, you know? So, if the opportunity presents and I run the race in my life, you just never know, and I wouldn't count myself out," she told Matt Galloway on The Current.

Even though Elmore initially retired from Olympic competition in 2012, she didn't slow down. She started doing triathlons, and competed in Ironman events. She had two children, and started a coaching career. But she said she couldn't resist the call to run. 

"I love being competitive and I love being active. But, at the end of the day, when I went back to running, I realized that what I love most is running. And so I was spending the whole time