London 2012 Olympics: Helen Jenkins focused on Olympic triathlon prize as stardom awaits Last weekend she won the World Series race in San Diego, a triumph which, allied to her runners-up finish in Sydney in April, has established the 28 year-old firmly among Britain's leading candidates for an Olympic gold medal. Her much-treasured rural runs at home in Bridgend, south Wales, with her chocolate Labrador Barney bounding at her side, could soon become a little more complicated. It helps that, beneath her impeccable modesty, Jenkins appears to grasp how talented she is. "I've got to think that I'm in with a hope of a medal, if not gold," she admits. In every World Series event last season, apart from the one where I crashed on the bike in Sydney, I was on the podium. I clearly have an opportunity. To stoke the anticipation further, the women's triathlon is scheduled for the morning of the middle Saturday. The scale of the galleries for a free weekend showpiece in the heart of Olympic London can scarcely be exaggerated, so it is scant surprise that Jenkins has chosen to be as far from the madding crowd as possible once the countdown intensifies. Four-week competitive blocks in Australia and southern California are followed by another in Madrid, before she even contemplates returning to the UK. "London is what I think about when I wake up at 5am for a 5.30 swim," she insists. It gets me out of bed, keeps me motivated. But it's good to be out of the country during this period. The decisive influence in keeping her balanced, unruffled by mounting public scrutiny, is that of husband Marc. Even those familiar with her stately progress to the summit of her sport might not be aware that Marc Jenkins was himself an accomplished triathlete, whose sole recollection of the Olympics involved finishing dead last in Athens in 2004, after breaking the spokes on his bike and then carrying it uphill in 90-degree heat. It was upon the diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism a year later that he abandoned his career, resolving instead to channel all his efforts into coaching Helen, with the enduring words: "I care more than anyone about how you are doing, and I know better than anyone how you are feeling." "It has evolved naturally," she reflects on her intense relationship with Marc, whom she married in the autumn of 2008. We have had success with it. I'm sure a lot of coaches look at it and think, "That's not the right way to coach," but it has worked for the two of us. It's not different or strange, it's a question of how we go about our daily lives. Marc absorbs many of the pressures for me in the lead-up to the Olympics. It balances itself out, and I wouldn't be doing as well as I am now without that level of support behind me. Husband-wife dynamics in the athletic arena can be notoriously overwrought - who could forget Paula Radcliffe's tear-streaked trackside argument with Gary Lough at the 2001 World Championships? But Jenkins and her man are effective at averting this type of contretemps. "Racing is emotional for both of us," she acknowledges. Probably the most draining time for us are the few days before a race, because we're both nervous, no matter how well the preparations have gone. Jenkins storms to victory in San Diego I'm not a very pleasant person before a race, I almost don't talk to anyone. Mark probably receives a lot of rubbish from me. But if something doesn't go right, you just have to deal with it. We're very good at not letting it take over our whole lives. There are not reminders of triathlon everywhere at home, they're kept out of the way. We see this as our job. In the splendid isolation of their Glamorgan gym, recently converted from a garage, they can lose themselves in their favoured three-chord soundtrack of AC/DC hits. Jenkins, though, never loses sight of her position, in the vanguard of a gilded age in British triathlon. While the sequence of a 1,500-metre swim, 40km cycle ride and 10km run is but 12 years old as an Olympic discipline, there could be few more fertile grounds for a British gold haul. The widely-heralded Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, are ranked No 1 and No 2 in the world on the men's side, and Jenkins" form - discounting the disappointment of coming 21st at the last Games - suggests she could soon match them for recognition. The sport can be all-consuming for its top competitors, and Jonny Brownlee has freely branded himself an obsessive, but Jenkins is characteristically more measured. "You need a great deal of self-motivation," she argues. I was never the fastest swimmer or the quickest runner, and I was shocking when I first started on the bike, so you have to find that internal drive. If you're a swimmer, you're in the pool twice a day etc, but there's always a coach with you. In triathlon you don't have the coach there with you all the time. I was fortunate in that Chris Goulden, the Welsh national coach, took me under his wing when I had just turned 15. He pushed me in the right direction. Triathlon's not a mainstream sport, so it's essential you find somebody who looks at you and says, "You can be good at this."" In Jenkins" case, not even Goulden could have guessed how good. As an ambassador for British Airways, Helen Jenkins is supported by the airline with flights for training and competition.