Olympic runner Elle St Pierre on parenting, milking cows and ‘being a normal person’ – in pictures

Elle St Pierre and her son, Ivan, at home in Enosburg Falls, Vermont, just days before St Pierre left for Paris. Photograph: Aisha McAdams

Elle St Pierre grew up on a dairy farm in Montgomery, Vermont. When the Olympic 1500m runner graduated college and joined New Balance Boston, a professional running team based in the city, she deeply missed life on the farm. After a few years, she came to a compromise with coach Mark Coogan: she would come to Boston for key workouts, but Vermont – specifically, her high school sweetheart turned husband Jamie St Pierre’s family dairy farm – was home.

“If she puts her mind to something in a race or a workout, she usually gets it done,” says Coogan.