Better late than never, as they say: Britain has finally recognised the need to provide coaches with incentives. In a reward scheme suggested by performance director Michael Scott that is designed to lift spirits on the deck and not only in the water, a gold medal will be worth £10,000 to the mentor of an Olympic champion from Britain. The last one of those rose in 1988: Adrian Moorhouse, 100m breaststroke. And there have been just six of them since 1920.

'The introduction of incentives to recognise the performance contribution of British-based coaches is an important step in further recognising the vital role and sacrifices coaches also make for the success of British Swimming in the international arena,' said Scott. 'Such a result-based reward system will assist in fostering the development of excellence amongst the coaching fraternity in this country and this will have huge benefits in the long term.'

Coaches will receive £10,000 for gold, £7,500 for silver and £5,000 for a bronze medal at Beijing 2008. British Swimming also explained: 'More than one medal will be rewarded with a multiple award while relay's finishing on the podium will see the sum divided by the number of coaches involved with the final four athletes.'

Swimmers already get bonuses for medals in a scheme run by UK Sport. '...we've tried to ... recognise the contribution made by the coach in achieving Olympic success. It brings us in line with some of the biggest swimming nations in the world and will help towards achieving the best possible result,' said Scott. As Bob Bowman once put it: 'Sure I gain financially from Michael's success. This is a team effort.' Quite right too.

The bonus programme for coaches may also be extended to the major event of any year in between Olympic Games.