Bermuda's athletes at the Pan-Am Games have been offered a huge cash incentive to win a medal.

Sports Minister Pam Gordon has announced a scheme whereby $9,000 will be handed over to any individual or team who strikes gold.

A silver medal will be worth $4,800 and a bronze $1,800.

The money will reportedly come out of Government's Elite Athletes' Fund. And the scheme will also apply to next year's Olympic Games in Atlanta and the next Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in 1998 with the cash bonuses varying in size.

Gordon wasn't available for comment yesterday but it's understood all the athletes here in Mar del Plata and the soccer players in Tandil have been informed of the incentive.

Should any team, such as Peter Bromby and his J24 crew, win a medal then the money would be shared by those in that team. An individual would collect the whole amount.

Bermuda Olympic Association officials were hoping yesterday that the bonus would interest both triple jumper Brian Wellman and sprinter Troy Douglas, whose appearance at these Games is in some doubt.

Chef de Mission Mike Cherry, who travelled to the Mar del Plata airport on Tuesday to meet Douglas only to later learn that the athlete was still in Europe, said he hoped to have more information on the extent of his and Wellman's injuries by today.

But, with the track and field programme not beginning until tomorrow, and Wellman and Douglas' events not scheduled until next Wednesday, he said he was hopeful they would be fit to perform.