Olly Freeman certainly did well when they were handing out talent from the talent department! Apart from being a very decent guy, he just happens to have eleven GCSEs, all grade A*s; four A levels, also grade As, and Cambridge Unversity have put his place on hold until after he's had time to pursue his career as a full-time triathlete. Oh and by the way, he's pretty talented in that department too. Olly, double World Duathlon Champion (2004, 2005) and double European triathlon Champion (2004, 2005) took a break from studying and training to tell us about his 2007 season, what he's got planned for 2008, and a few more interesting facts.

AE After a long break due to injury last year you finally managed to get back to racing and finished the season on a very positive note (he finished 7th in Eilat, the last World Cup of the season). Tell us a little bit about the injury and your first race back.

OF Well it was a crazy injury really, it happened whilst racing at the European Championships last July when I went to put my race flats on in T2. The sole got squashed in the bottom of my shoe and my toe got squashed, the repeated impact resulted in a broken 5th metatarsal. I know you would think it would be quite hard to do and lots of people asked me how I didn't feel the pain, but when you're racing there's so much adrenaline that you just don't feel things like you normally would. I subsequently had six weeks off running and then made the mistake of coming back too quickly. I was too eager to get ready for Worlds and Beijing and paid the price for it by ending up with a full-blown stress fracture in my foot. I lost nearly fifteen weeks of running, so by the time I got to Eilat I hadn't raced for six months, so under the circumstances I was happy with 7th place.

AE How are you getting on now and what's your current state of fitness?

OF I feel really well and feel as if my running is back to where it was, in fact it's probably stronger now than before. I've been doing a few cross country races and they've been going really well.

AE With the last Olympic selection race (Madrid World Cup on May 25th) fast approaching, the question that everyone is going to be asking the top triathletes in the country is," what do you think your chances are of making the team?"

OF It's going to be tough, they're are so many good guys. Tim, Will, Stuart and Alistair all performed really well last year, but there's AJ, Paul Amey and Richard Stannard. If Paul is fit then he can run really well and Richard is a great swimmer, so if things go their way, who knows! It will depend on who performs well on the day and I guess if I do then I'll be in with as good a chance as anyone.

AE What are your thoughts just before the start of a big race?

OF When I was younger I used to get really nervous before my track races, I would be so nervous that I'd feel ill. I was a good cross-country runner, but when it came to the shorter stuff like 800m, I wasn't so good and I thought I would get found out and then lose my identity as good runner. These days though I'm much more relaxed and tend to just focus on the race and what's ahead. In Eilat I'd watched the girls race and saw Nicola Spirig (who went on to win the race) slip at the start, so I really focussed on that and what I would have to do to make sure it didn't happen to me. Guess what? I slipped at the start too!

AE You've been quoted as saying, 'Sport is in my blood'. Looking at your family sporting history you mean that quite literally. Your father, we know, was a swimmer and made junior international level, your grandfather played cricket for Warwickshire, but we've also read that there's a famous footballer in the family. Is it someone we know?

OF Well it's quite a long time ago now, but my grandfather's uncle, Bert Freeman, who played for Burnley and was also an England international, scored the winning goal in the first FA cup final (Burnley v Liverpool) played in front of royalty, King George V. So yes, I guess you could say sport is quite literally in my blood.

AE Last year you signed a new sponsorship deal with Mazda can you tell us more about this and your other sponsors?

OF I'm very lucky to have some really good sponsors. Herbalife is my main sponsor, but I'm lucky to have some other great ones too: Giant for my bike; blueseventy for wetsuits; Nike, who was a new one last year too, and then Mazda which is the latest.

AE Yes, we've heard they've supplied you with a very nice Mazda CX-7?

OF It's very nice and a huge improvement on my old purple Ford Fiesta. It's so different to drive from my last car that I almost had to learn to drive again, but I'm getting the hang of it now and the heated seats are very handy for when I'm driving to swimming at 0530 in the morning.

AE Any thoughts for the future or plans if you don't make the Olympics this year?

OL Of course, this year my main aim is to make the team for Beijing but, to be honest, I didn't think that I would be aiming for this Olympics, I always thought it would be 2012, but it just so happens that I'm in a good position to try. If I don't make it though, it won't be the end of the world because it means I will have free rein to do a lot of other races like World Cups, the American circuit and so many other things. I really am looking forward to this season whatever. Of course, long term, 2012 will my main focus.

AE What's your best moment in the sport so far?

OF There have been some really great moments. 2004 was a great year when I won the European Triathlon Championships and the World Duathlon Championships, but I'd have to say that finishing third at London in 2006 really was my best moment so far. The atmosphere with so many people there watching and the fact that it's televised made it really exciting. I also finished just behind Tim Don who shortly afterwards went on to win Worlds, that made it pretty special

AE And your worst?

OF Definitely last year when I was told I had a stress fracture. That really got me down and then afterwards watching Worlds and the Beijing World Cup race, it was tough knowing I should have been there.

AE Moving away from sport a little, we know that you've deferred your place at Cambridge University for the time being, are you doing any other studying at the moment?

OF Yes I'm trying to keep my brain active for when I do go back and study, so I'm doing an Open University course on computing. This works really well as the studying fits around what I'm doing. If I'm having a really tough period of training then I can back off a bit, but at the same time it's great because if I'm away on camp I can take my work with me and do it in my spare time.

AE Finally, has watching Chrissie Wellington win the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii inspired you to do an Ironman?

OL I have huge respect for what the Ironman athletes do, but at the moment not even what Chrissie has done could inspire me. The thought of all that training is just so daunting, hours and hours a day training just doesn't appeal to me.

...or so he says, as he heads off for his second session of the day following his 0530 swim session!