Olympic hopeful Malindi Elmore on the Games being postponed

Kelowna’s Malindi Elmore had a chance to crack the Canadian National Team at this year's Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, an impressive 16 years after competing in her first and only Games back in 2004 in Athens.

But she's still relieved the 2020 Olympics were postponed due to the pandemic.

“I thought it was kind of a relief because if the Games had not been postponed until 2021, if they just stayed the course, I think they would have had to ultimately cancel them completely. The fact the games were postponed to next year means there’s still a chance that they still occur.”

The Olympic hopeful was expecting the team's official announcement this spring, but that process is now on hold. 

“I was really looking forward to the official announcement of the team in May and that would have been incredible after all these years and kind of one of those crazy dreams come true.”

“It’s super disappointing, but I know people are dealing with much larger disappointments right now in the world... I’m just crossing my fingers that our health our world and our communities return in the next year and we can go ahead because it’s still looking a little bit precarious, I think.”

She’s not training the same way she would be if there was an Olympics in four months, but she says she'll be able to pick it up again once they know the race schedule. 

“Running right now is more for mental health and break… I have a one and five-year-old so having them home all day means that my one-hour run out the door is really necessary,” laughs Elmore.

She says she is six-weeks away from race-fit and can ramp up with specific training to be at her optimal level. 

“I’m always in a really good baseline fitness but I don’t want to be specifically race-fit year round because that’s really hard on your body to always be at peak fitness, so it’s okay to detrain and take a step back for periods of the year and now is no better time to do it."

Her advice to other athletes, is to adapt to the situation, as the global crisis is out of everyone's control. 

“The saying I use often is, control the controllable… Just having a purpose with what you’re doing and breaking things down into smaller blocks is really key because 16 months or 14 months from now is a really long-term training plan at this point right now.” ” says Elmore. 

She also says athletes must be careful not only social distancing while training to be good role models to the community but to ensure they remain healthy. 

Elmore was unable to race at the Olympic qualifiers in Toronto last year due to an injury but is hopeful for another chance if possible, seeking to beat her national record-breaking run which she obtained at her second marathon ever in Houston this year.