There is no such thing as a typical Olympic competitor. They come in all shapes and sizes, from more than 200 countries around the globe, squashed into one city for two weeks of the most vibrant sport that the world can collate.

We are used to the extremes, though. Spitz, Redgrave and Korbut are all household names and the coverage at the Games will flush out the hard-done-by, home-grown or just plain brilliant from the Olympic spectrum. But one small Wiltshire village has become home to a Chinese equestrian competitor in the 2008 Games who, despite attending Eton and having a British mother, will gather much more attention from his home press than he will do here. With his Australian coach, Chinese sponsor and British education, he challenges everything we attribute to an Olympian and, even more so, a Chinese Olympian. He is far from typical.

Alex Hua Tian is slight but athletic, well spoken without being effusive and cautious without being defensive. At 18 years and 10 months, he will be the youngest equestrian rider at the Games and, with the appetite for the Olympics running wild in China, it is no surprise that he has been taken to the hearts of the Chinese media. Good looks, a leading role in a new sport for China and, of course, the Eton factor, made the papers there refer to him as “one in a billion”.

If one comment could sum him up, it is his reaction when I put it to him that the pressure is on. “CNN came and did a piece on me and wrote, 'Oh pity poor Alex Tian, the weight of the Chinese nation's on his shoulders'. I was sitting there alone in my horsebox reading this and thinking 'yeah right!'”

Born in London to an English mother, Sarah Noble, and Chinese father, Hua Shan, Hua Tian was first introduced to horses in Hong Kong and, although he obviously enjoyed the activity, it was not until almost a decade later that his natural talent was spotted. During a summer break in the UK when he was 10, his mother organised a week in Wiltshire with Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks, themselves prominent Australian equestrian competitors. But what started as little more than a holiday activity turned into a revelation. “He was absolutely fearless and he was charging round on the biggest horses,” Lucinda said. Her husband agrees: “He's good to teach and he's intelligent, which helps.”

Within three years of starting his education at Eton, his mother opened up the conversation with his coaches about the possibility of competing at the Olympics. The qualification level for a home athlete would be easier and, having worked with the Chinese equestrian authorities, Noble knew just how much having a competitive rider would mean to the host nation. But three-day eventing is expensive and through some contacts of his father a sponsorship deal with a Chinese property developer was forged. In a short time it had gone from an enjoyable pastime to a headlong pursuit of Olympic qualification.

Hua Tian and his first-choice horse, Chicco, have defied the odds to reach the Olympics, Tian because of his young age and Chicco because he didn't measure up. “He's of a German Warmblood sire bred for jumping, but he didn't make the grade,” Hua Tian said. “I bought him as a back-up to my No1 horse. He's quite grumpy in the stables and almost doesn't want to know. At competition, though, he completely lights up.”

The demands of the three-day event will be extreme for both Hua Tian and Chicco - the technicalities and precision of the dressage followed by the lung-bursting cross-country and then the almost unbearable tension of the showjumping. One slip of hoof or hand can make the difference between gold and failure - and all of this taking place in the heat and humidity of Hong Kong.

By virtue of his background and his sport, Hua Tian falls well outside the typical lifestyle and outlook of a Chinese Olympian. “We don't get much input from the Sports Bureau,” he said. “Equestrian sport is so different and whilst we get support from the Chinese Equestrian Association, we pretty much do our own thing.”

But surely that distance affects his sense of belonging to his country? “I'm Chinese and I'm representing my country at the home Olympics. What's more important than that to a sportsman? It will be spine-tingling,” he said. I ask if he feels that China gets a rough ride and that surely the coverage of the torch relay was hard to watch. “I'm proud to ride for my country and that's the end of it,” he said. “I don't get the whole story, I don't think anyone gets the whole story.”

In one last challenge to what we perceive as usual, his coaches have now turned into his competitors. The Frederickses have qualified for the Olympic three-day event and will compete for Australia. It means that, along with Jane Gregory, of Britain, one small village in Wiltshire, Great Cheverell, can boast four Olympic competitors, but, more crucially, his advisers will be his adversaries.

“Luckily eventing is a friendly sport and when you get the good times everyone is genuinely pleased for you,” Clayton said. “There's no hassle us being for him and for ourselves at the same time. It's a lifetime goal for me personally to be at the Olympics and it says something really great for both Lucinda and my management of Alex and our horses if he gets a medal, too.” But what if ultimately it's him or you? “He'll have to stand on his own two feet,” Clayton said with a smile.

Of course, should Alex Hua Tian stand on the podium, he will be seen as a Chinese hero, in a Games likely to be studded with them. Deluged by plaudits in China he will be able to support his passion for many years. In the country he has chosen to make his home, he will likely be seen as just another product of the Chinese system. Typical.