THE stock-in-trade question asked of the champion where to from here? - will be ringing in the ears of Michelle Smith over the next few weeks.

Following his gold medal in Barcelona Michael Carruth said: "I have nothing else to prove as an amateur." Circumstances indicate that the thinking in the Smith-De Bruin camp will be very different.

Seville for the European Championships next year and Sydney four years on are the venues that will be central to the triple gold medal winner's thoughts over the next couple of months.

Whether or not to defend her European 400 individual medley' and 200 butterfly titles in Seville is something that Smith will decide more easily than making any firm plans to defend her Olympic disciplines in Sydney.

The best judges are convinced that if Smith is competing at the highest level in Sydney her focus, as a 30-year-old, would have shifted to the shorter distances.

By that stage retaining her 400 IM would prove a bigger surprise than when she hit the pads ahead of the Atlanta field. Conversely it is a growing policy by the IASA to encourage competitors to remain in the sport longer.

Dave McCullough, the IASA's director of swimming, said: "If we could hold the female competitor in the sport a little hit longer we would certainly see more Michelle Smiths."

McCullough believes age tends to militate against performances at the longer distances in swimming as opposed to athletics. However, he said: "If Michelle continued on the same track for three years before Sydney it would he quite possible for her to repeat or even to improve on what she has done."

McCullough cites the 100 metres victory by Caroline Foot, a 32-year-old, in the British championships. "The shorter events would tend to suit the older competitor better. Sprinting strength would tend to be a little bit better at this stage.

"Michelle has obviously done an awful lot of work on the strength area. She is very specific about the particular muscles that are required in swimming. I don't think anybody has gotten into that type of detail quite to the same extent before.

"The biggest change we are hoping for is that we will be able to identify people three of four years down the road and individually fund those on a very monitored basis over a period of time. If, for example, someone like Michelle comes to us next January and says `look, I want to go to Hong Kong' we'd say `yes, do this and do that and we'll pay it'. We can't do that at the moment, we are not allowed. Funding is only for team preparation."

The choice between student and full-time swimmer would have to be addressed by individuals in a way that Smith has done.

"It would have cost Michelle between £20,000 and £30,000 per year over the past four years to train and pay the bills. The overall amount of money spent on the elite team per year is between £80,000 and £90,000," said McCullough.

McCullough is working on a plan for the next 12 months, which will he submitted to the Olympic Council. What the response will he is always difficult to forecast. "They don't know because the Minister for Sport doesn't know he has to wait for the budget and the Department will never let you know how much you are going to have.

"The whole thing operates on the basis that the IASA has to spend a pound to get 75 pence back. There is no full funding, and it's only for team events. This is why we can never fund individual swimmers."

Peter Banks, who coached in Ireland, has proved what can he achieved in this area according to McCullough. Since leaving Trojan three years ago Banks's work as a full-time coach in Florida has met with huge and instant success in Atlanta where he watched one of his charges, Brooke Bennett, win gold at 16 years of age.

Young, talented swimmers should travel to Olympics with a view to being serious contenders four years on, according to McCullough. The number of female swimmers lost to the sport at the Leaving Certificate stage would also have to be addressed.

McCullough's elite team structure, which comprises the top 25 swimmers in the country, has been in place for two years. This team is programmed through the season, through three or four phases culminating in events like the senior or junior European Championships. All the time the individual swimmers are being monitored and close contact maintained with their coaches. The team is reviewed in March.

McCullough is satisfied the team is packed with competitors of great promise and there have been results to prove his belief in the current crop. But it could be at least eight years before any of them will be able to even contemplate emulating Smith's success attained in Atlanta.