Jo Pavey has created one of the year’s great sporting stories but the real power of her running, which saw her win her first major gold medal at the age of 40 when she became the European 10,000m champion this summer, emerges in more subtle ways. It can be heard in the understated tribute to her junior coach, Tony White, who is now blind and could only listen to her exploits on the radio. White heard commentary of Pavey’s win in Zurich and, before that, her courageous bronze-medal run in the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“He’s just an amazing man,” Pavey says of White, “and I still speak to him regularly. Tony’s been blind for a few years now but he still goes for a five-mile walk every day with his guide dog. He’s very brave and, sadly, his wife has become ill with dementia and he spends most of his time looking after her. Who would think a blind man could be her main carer? Other people come into the house to help and he’ll be the one making tea for them.”

In the front room of her house in Devon, looking down at her mug of coffee as if imagining how difficult it must be to carry out the ordinary rituals of life in darkness, Pavey talks compassionately. She turned 41 last month and, as a mother of two children, she brings a rounded perspective to her late-blooming sporting career.

Sport can offer a diversion, and even comfort, to those who need it most and Pavey nods at the suggestion that her achievements must have brought joy to White. “Yeah,” she says, almost shyly, “I think it did. We speak a lot and I’m just grateful to him for helping me start out. It’s like I’m still grateful to my PE teacher who really encouraged me – as well as the family who used to give me lifts to my athletics club. I’m in touch with all of them.”

In keeping with such humility, Pavey points out some homely truths about how far she was from sporting glory a year ago. “I gave birth to Emily on 4 September [2013], so last October I was still absolutely thrilled with another new baby. Running-wise I wasn’t that great. But you never get that time back so it was all about enjoying being a mum and being available for Emily and [five-year-old] Jacob. People ask me about the physiological advantages of giving birth as an elite athlete. I say it’s possible but, really, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages in terms of tiredness and training. But that’s irrelevant because there’s nothing more beautiful than having a child. That’s far more important than running.”

That philosophy helped Pavey when her return to training was seemingly ruined by the closure of her nearest track in Exeter. “At first I kind of felt this might be one obstacle too many because I would have to drive an hour each way to Yeovil but they were very supportive and they gave me a key and I was able to use the track whenever I needed. We often went as a family and Emily would be on a rug near the finish line, playing, and that was important in case I needed to breastfeed her.

“I was still breastfeeding in April so I couldn’t even dream of getting a medal at either the Commonwealths or the Europeans. That just didn’t seem realistic. I was just thinking, ‘Oh, I’d love to just make the team … ’ The trials were on May 10th so I only had a month to get my body back in shape but one benefit of being older is that you’ve got the experience and you know the times you need to be hitting in training to make qualification realistic.”

Pavey not only qualified for the Commonwealths, she ran the 5,000m with an inspiring bravery and commitment which surprised some people who could barely believe a seemingly ordinary mother from Devon, in her forties, could compete against the might of Kenya’s finest distance runners. “I knew the Kenyans would be very strong,” Pavey says. “They were young and fast. It seemed unrealistic at first but I thought I want to run hard – even if it means I blow up and come last. I wanted to run for that medal.

“I spent a lot of the race trying to stay in front but the three of them were working together and if I took the lead they’d all power past me in one unit. It was like running against a train. They were either just ahead or just behind me. You have to concentrate when you’re running alone against a group of three. When they came past me again in the home straight I just thought I’d give everything in the hope of snatching a medal. I was so happy I did it – and, really, just thrilled to be competing at that level.”

Ten days separated that draining run and her tilt at an unlikely European gold medal in the 10,000m but Pavey seemed to possess a steely certainty and, in the end, she outran France’s Clémence Calvin, who is 16 and a half years younger than her. “Going into a longer event helped because there were more options for me tactically over 10,000m. I knew most of my rivals had not done the Commonwealths and so their whole focus had been the Europeans. I was still recovering from Glasgow but me and Gavin [her amiable husband and coach] felt it was the best way to save myself for the last lap. I also tried to run that last lap in a controlled way. I didn’t run as hard as I could at the bell because I wanted to make sure I could really kick down the home straight. Maybe, in the past, I ran too hard too early. This time I felt ready.”

Her European victory only weeks before she turned 41, and less than a year since the birth of her second child, touched a lot of people. Pavey is also so rooted in real life that women in particular can empathise. “People have been so kind,” she says. “I think they’re all amazed by how old I am! Maybe they can relate to me more now because I’m over 40, I’ve got two kids and I’m juggling a busy life.”

She once seemed to run in the shadow of more exalted athletes, like Paula Radcliffe, even though Pavey was a superior junior and it has taken the birth of her two children and a deeper confidence to transform her career. “Yeah, definitely,” she says. “Being a mum is more important to me than sport. When I was pregnant with Emily I didn’t know how much running I had left in me. I thought I might not have a career after that but that didn’t matter as having a child was my main focus.

“Now Gavin and I have our family it’s all so much easier mentally. Years ago I would dwell on training and worry if I was going to hit the target. Now if I don’t make the time I’m aiming for in training it doesn’t matter because I know I gave it my all. There was a stage in my career where I didn’t really enjoy it because I wanted to be a mum but now I can also love running and not stress about anything.”

The mood in the Pavey household on an ordinary midweek afternoon is so relaxed, with Gavin looking after Emily before they all pick up Jacob from school, that the new European champion can pad around her kitchen making yet more coffee while offering biscuits or a slice of a giant birthday cake shaped like a Minion from Despicable Me. Yet, amid such domestic harmony, it seems easy to believe Pavey will run in her fifth successive Olympic Games.

“Rio feels much more realistic than it did even a few months ago,” she says. “I would like to compete in five Olympics but I’m actually old enough to have done six. In 1996 I would have been 21 and back then they also did the 3,000m so there were more places on offer.”

In 1996 Pavey had just got married to Gavin and they were both working in full-time jobs. Pavey was a physiotherapist with her running career having been badly affected by injury but she can now contemplate history. “I know that the [former GB] race-walker Chris Maddocks did five Olympics but I’m not sure if anyone has run on the track in five Olympic Games. It would feel like a real achievement.”

Her best Olympic result came in her second Games, in Athens in 2004, when she finished fifth in the 5,000m. She admits to being “fairly pleased” by her performances at London 2012. “I came seventh in both the 5,000m and 10,000m. The competition was very hot and I was proud to be the first non-African runner in both.

“I know the competition in Rio is going to be even tougher. You’ve got the Kenyans, the Ethiopians and many other strong athletes. But I aim to be there trying my best and you never know what might happen. This year has shown me that anything is possible – even if it’s amusing to me that I’ve tried so hard for so many years to get a gold medal and here it comes along when I’m 40 with two kids. It’s also quite funny being in the GB team because I’m double the age of a lot of my team-mates but it keeps me young.”

It seems fitting Pavey should represent a charity which fuses her passion for children and reaching cherished ambitions. “Dreams Come True is a really important charity because it helps fulfil the dreams of terminally ill children around the UK. They’ve got these final dreams. It might be to meet a certain person or to do something special. Being a mum, and feeling so grateful I’ve got two healthy children, it’s a charity that’s very close to my heart. They do fantastic work.”

White also does fantastic work as a blind husband caring for his ailing wife. He also tells a story which illustrates why his former protege had the determination to finally win a senior championship after trying for so long. That inner resolve helped her, at the age of 15, to run a 1500m national championship when, after an earlier 800m run, it looked as if she could barely walk.

“After the 800, my feet were so blistered they were bleeding and I had to have my socks peeled off in the ambulance,” Pavey remembers. “Tony didn’t want me to run but I insisted.”

How did she do? “I won. I’ve always tried to keep going. I think your body finds a way. Tony understands that. And what he’s doing as a blind man, caring for his wife, says it all. I’m just glad he got to hear me win a really big race after all this time. It’s been a special time for all of us.”