Following on from his surprise resignation as the World Class women's coach, Tri247's Annie Emmerson caught up with Chris Jones in his home town of Swansea to find out about his reasons for resigning, his time as one of the leading British coaches and his future plans.

AE You've been a highly successful coach with the British triathlon federation for over eight years, what was the main reason behind your decision to resign less then ten months before the next Olympics?

CJ There is never a right time to stop, we are constantly on a carousel that is just moving from one Championship to the next. The main reason was that I had stopped enjoying what I do and I have, as you said, been involved for eight years. It has been a fantastic time working for the BTF, but it has just come down to wanting to spend more time with my two young boys and wife Jane. On average I am away nearly fifteen weeks a year and in Olympic years it has been as much as twenty-two weeks.

AE There have been a lot of changes in the sport since you started including the introduction of lottery funding for the athletes, do you think this has had a positive affect on the sport?

CJ I think any injection of funding into any sport will have a positive affect at first. The BTF's world class programme is a world class resource for athletes and coaches to use, I believe that funding is there to support athletes who want to reach their true potential. This is recognised at a junior level and up to under-23s. I am not sure we should be providing just anybody with a wage. I look at it this way; if you train to be a doctor or a teacher you get very little help, you earn a living when you are qualified. We have a six-year window to support and fund athletes to reach international performances in sport. We are a world class resource to support all athletes at the highest level, but once they are at this level it must be down to individual athletes to be professional and earn their living from the sport and sponsorship.

I also think that in the UK we give funding at a low level; if we talk about programmes and funding levels in other countries, like Australia and New Zealand, you have to be at a very high level before getting any support. At times we are in danger of sending out the wrong message by over-supporting. It is still about huge personal sacrifice; hunger and individual desire are what it takes to be able to deal with the training and adversity that comes with training to be a full time athlete.

AE You were an incredibly successful coach; four Olympians, eleven European Championship medals, four World Championship medals and one Commonwealth Games medal. Out of all these successes, which one was the most important and why?

CJ You can never get away from the first World title, it allows you freedom, you have delivered on a given day at the highest level.

AE What has been your best moment in the sport?

CJ Leanda Cave’s world title in Cancun was no doubt a high point in my career. I didn’t realize at first that she had won, she’d passed me in second place with 1km to go so I presumed she had got the silver medal, I didn’t realize she had caught Barb Lindquist with under 500m to go. It was again a fantastic day with Michelle Dillon finishing in third place and AJ toping it off with a Bronze medal in the men’s race.

AE And your worst?

CJ Mixed feelings on this. It was an incredibly emotional situation when Marc Jenkins had his wheel ridden into by Maik Petzold from Germany at the Athens games. Watching Marc deal with this and then run the rest of the bike, way behind the rest of the field, was something I will never forget as a coach. He wanted to be an Olympian, and in his mind he had to cross the finish line to do this. Lesser athletes would have stopped a long time before having to run in front of the world’s media as he did. Coaches and athletes around the world echoed a huge respect.

I was incredibly proud of what he did, at some point in his life he will realise the scale of what he put himself through that day.

AE Any regrets?

CJ Coaches always have regrets; dealing with injuries, doing the quality work and getting that one session wrong, it's never easy and not a science. Perhaps at times I am not the best person at dealing with injuries. My biggest regret reflects on why I do not deal with this well and that is I spent too much time away from my son when he was in and out of hospital fighting cancer. It puts a different perspective on things.

AE How do you think British triathlon compares with the rest of the world in regards to performance, management, etc.

CJ British triathlon is a world class programme. At times you feel it is perhaps being driven by funding agencies like UK sport, but perhaps all NGBS are. The BTF have a really good group of people working for them right now and also have, for the first time, huge support from people who know how to support. Sarah Springman and Chris Kitchen are doing a great job behind the scenes.

Performance-wise, it's easy to see that there are only five major players in the world at the moment; Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Great Britain. This is where the main medal haul comes from at any World Championships, but then again the best two athletes in the world are individuals in well supported programmes. At major races it is easy to see we are respected and regarded as a major force. Credit must go to Graeme Maw, he did set up a world class programme, he also had his rewards in Cancun and Lausanne. He should take a lot from what he achieved, it's not at all easy to achieve World Championship medals and Graeme did do this, twice!

AE What are your predictions for the 2008 Olympic triathlon, male and female?

CJ In the men’s race; Gomez, Don and Whitfield. In the women’s; Snowsill and Fernandez. The opportunity is for the rest of the world to chase the bronze medal.

AE Before working with British Triathlon you were a very successful age-group coach with over 200 age-group athletes. Do you have any plans to go back to this type of coaching?

CJ Well, I plan to do a little work with Simon Ward and his team. It will be good to give back to the sport again. I enjoy always meeting people at races and have always had huge admiration for what the age-group athletes achieve.

AE What other future plans do you have?

CJ I will be working with elite level sport as a consultant, spend more time with my family and just try to get a much better balance!

AE If you had a magic wand, what changes would you make to the sport?

CJ The World Cup needs to become like the Golden League in athletics; four big races with just the top fifty athletes in the world allowed to race. This would draw much more media and perhaps investment to our sport. Also, the inclusion of the Ironman in the Olympic Games, that would show the world where our sport is at on another level.