Over the next five weeks Tri247 will bring you all the Olympic triathlon news and stories. We'll be showing you video interviews with Helen Tucker, Hollie Avil, Alistair Brownlee and Will Clarke at the launch of the Great Britain Olympic triathlon team in London. Sadly Tim Don's flight from Des Moines was delayed so he didn't make it back in time. We'll also be taking a look back at the Sydney and Athens Olympics, along with a preview from this year's course in Beijing, with thoughts and quotes from the athletes on how they view it. We'll also be interviewing not just the British team, but some of the other main contenders from around the world.

This week, in the first of our Beijing Bound series we talk to Jessica Harrison. Jess started triathlon when she was eleven and went on to race for Great Britain at both junior and senior level. A passion for the French way of life and a desire to go to the Olympics saw her switch nationalities. She made the right decision, she's now very happy and settled living in France and in just over five weeks time she will be toeing the startline at the Ming Tomb Reservoir with 54 other Olympians.

AE It hasn't stopped raining since six o clock this morning, it must be terrible to hear that living in Montpellier?

JH Oh no, that's really depressing! Actually I have to say that last week was too hot, thankfully it's a bit cooler this week (ed; very cool at 30°) It was really nice to race in Hamburg last weekend (Jess finished sixth at the Hamburg World Cup), it was a much cooler so more comfortable for racing.

AE You're now a French citizen and racing under the French flag and, unlike quite a lot of athletes that jump ship, you really have embraced the French way of life. Was it an easy decision to make?

JH Well I've still got my English passport, I'm not sure if I would have wanted to change if I'd had to give it up. It's really cool, they really look after you well (the French Triathlon Federation) and it's nice to have been able to fulfill their expectations. My sole reason to change my citizenship wasn't just to race for France, but I really wanted to make the Games and I knew that was my best chance. I know I made the right decision, because it all turned out right in the end

AE When did you find out your were going to the Olympics?

JH They announced the whole team in mid-June, but for some time they'd been dropping hints that it would be me and Carol (Peon), so it wasn't really a surprise.

AE Since you started racing for France, your results and world ranking have really improved, what do you put that down to.

JH Well, I guess for a long while I didn't work as hard as I should have. I remember hooking up with a french triathlete, Stephanie Gross, who used to train in the Brett Sutton camp who, I think most of us know, train incredibly hard, and she looked at my training diary and worked out that in the previous year I'd only been averaging about 12 hours a week; that was a bit embarrassing. So, I guess it was a case of get your head down and work or give up.

AE What's the support like from the French Federation compared to British Triathlon?

JH It's good, but it's probably less financially interesting than Great Britain, you don't get a salary every month. They're much more interested in the socially professional side of it and they're more keen to try and set up the athletes with the army or one of the national utilities so they get a contract and are paid a salary, but they're not actually working full-time.

AE Are you doing anything along those lines?

JH They did offer me a contract with the army, but I'm a pacifist and I didn't want to go into the army. There might be something coming up at the end of the year with Lyonnaise des Eaux, which is a water treatment company and one of the sponsors of the French Triathlon Federation, I do some translation work so that could all tie in. The Federation like you to work a little bit in the off-season, so that when we eventually stop doing sport you've got a bit of direction, even if it's not necessarily what you want to do. The idea is that you don't retire at 35 or 36 thinking 'what the hell am I going to do'. We also get very well looked after when we go away to World Cups, everything is paid for and there's always a good physio and masseur on board. They have a lot less money than the British, but I guess like everything there's positives and negatives.

AE How do you think that all compares with the support the British athletes get?

JH Well, as I said, the British athletes get some very good financial support and most do get very well looked after, but I would say it's quite a lot less cut-throat than it is in England. You can afford to make mistakes and have injuries for quite some time before they take you off funding.

AE What's the French team spirit like?

JH It's very good, there's a real team bond. We're really encouraged to spend time together and the team always has meals together before and after races.

AE It's twenty years since you first started racing in triathlon, what are your first memories and tell us about when you raced for Great Britain for the first time.

JH My first race was the East Grinstead children's triathlon, I remember my dad building a bike for me and I just loved it. I first raced for Great Britain when I was 15 at the European Championships in Banyoles, Spain; I came sixth.

AE Great Britain have got a great Olympic team for both the men and the women, although there was huge disappointment for the women when the realised there were only going to get three slots. What are your thoughts on the team?

JH In the men's team I guess the surprise was Alistair, but he definitely deserved his place. In the girl's team, it's really tough on people like Andrea and Liz, but to be honest I don't think they had the best tactics, which meant they didn't get three slots.

AE What do you mean when you say they didn't have the best tactics?

JH I guess there have been things that have been out of their control, like injuries, etc, but at the end of the day if you don't make the athletes go and do the races and allow them to go off and do their own thing, which is a little bit what happened at the end of last year, then you can't expect to get the points necessary to get the slots. I know hindsight is a great thing, but if you don't have a structured plan over two to three years of how you are going to get your three slots, you can't expect, even with plenty of talented athletes, that you are going to get three slots, which is what happened to the Australian men's team as well.

AE All that aside, what do you think of the women's team?

JH Well you couldn't have picked another team. Hollie is awesome, and Helen's a World Champion, so there's no debate, it's just really tough that they didn't have a spot for either Liz or Andrea. Without a doubt the British athletes are very strong and it's a very hard team to make, whichever way you look at it.

AE What are your thoughts about racing for France and not Great Britain at the Olympics, is there not a patriotic side to you that says perhaps I should be racing for Great Britain?

JH France were happy to welcome me and it's not like I got kicked out of Britain and I'm certainly not anti-British, but I'm not someone who has ever been particularly patriotic. I never feel like I've been ostracised and I still get lots of support at races from the British spectators. The French were really welcoming and I guess there is a pretty strong nationalistic spirit in France, which makes me feel proud to race for them.

AE The Olympics does tend to see some surprise performances, how do you see the race turning out?

JH I think it will probably be a smallish group after the swim or the first hill, just like at the Madrid World Cup, we'll have to really watch out for people like Helen and Hollie on the bike as they can change the race. I think the Americans will toughen the swim up and it will be a bit 'each to their own' on the first lap of the bike. If a group gets away I think there will only be about six to ten athletes in it.

AE Do you think you have a chance to make the front swim pack and be in the break away bike group, if it happens that way?

JH My swimming is going really well, I've been in the front pack in every race this year, so hopefully that will work in my favour. I've also worked on my bike a lot which I'd neglected a little in the race to improve my running. It's good to work on my strength again, which is the bike, as I think this will be vital in Beijing.

AE There's talk about the amount of pressure that some of the favourite athletes are under, how much do you think this can really affect an athlete's performance?

JH If you were a betting person you'd have to put your money on Fernandes and Snowsill but like you said, the favourites do have have so much pressure on their shoulders and that could be quite negative for some of the athletes. It will really depend on how permeable they are to that kind of pressure. I really could see someone like Hollie or Helen or one of the New Zealand athletes, or why not me, having a really good race because we don't have the kind of expectation or pressure put on us, like the big favourites do.

AE It's an amazing achievement for anyone to make the Olympics, but what does it feel like to race for a country that isn't your native country, doesn't that in itself put pressure by wanting to justify your place on the French Olympic team?

JH I think I went out there and won my place without any question, so I don't feel that I have to justify myself to other athletes. I put a lot of hard work into making the team, so the first part of my job is done. It is a dream come true and maybe it's not something I've realised yet, it'll probably sink in after the race. I've been saying it for a while, and the federation have too, that we're not just going to go to be at the Olympics, they want us to be aiming for a least top eight, I'm going there with the firm intention of having a good race.