When Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten emerged from the rowing lake at Shunyi Park dripping in silver and bronze after ten kilometres of grind and slog, the Britons had one thing in mind: the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London 2012.

Home to royal fowl and fanatics who break the ice there on Christmas morning each year in pursuit of such trophies as the Peter Pan Cup, the Serpentine will host the Olympic swim marathon. A BOA source told The Times last night that negotiations between British Swimming and the organisers of the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere plus Fina, the international governing body, are at an advanced stage over holding a test event in Hyde Park. A provisional date of August 15, 2009 has been set.

Holding aloft the medal that she dedicated to her sister, Lucy, who celebrated her 19th birthday by cheering on her sibling alongside Zandra and Tony, their mother and father, Patten said: “This is going to motivate me every day for the next four years.

“We've worked so hard that I'm looking forward to a break now, but what happened here today is going to drive me to what we're all going for. It was always London 2012. Everyone wants to be right at the heart of it.”

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Organisers read the mood long before the Great Britain successes of Beijing unfolded. Initially destined for the Eton College Rowing Centre at Dorney Lake, beneath the ramparts of Windsor Castle, London 2012 announced in 2006 what everyone wanted to hear: the swim marathon would be at the heart of an intimate Games, in the Serpentine.

The venue, home to Serpentine Swimming Club, must conform to the rules of Fina. As well as a “water purity and physical safety” certificate, the temperature must be at least 16C (61F) at a depth of 40cm (it has reached a balmy 21C this summer) and no part of the course must be shallower than 1.4metres. All conditions can comfortably be met.

The course has yet to be decided, but could be ten laps of one-kilometre each as opposed to the four much longer laps in the rowing lake here. According to British Swimming, rumours surfaced soon after London opted for the Serpentine that a “very old pipeline system that used to chlorinate a small part of the lake to make the waters suitable for bathing for London's gentry way back when” lies under the water, but suggestions that “centuries of goose crap” would have to be dredged from the bed were rejected as fanciful, while chlorination of the water at a “green Games” would be unthinkable. The rowing lake in Beijing is slightly chlorinated, but most open-water events are held in conditions far more hostile than the Serpentine.

As Patten put it: “I've raced with jellyfish and even a dead dog once.” Nothing like that in London, where the royal parks prize the presence of wildlife, animals - and, in 2012, humans, it has to be assumed - after the toiling, aggressive nature of the race at Shunyi.

Payne, who was second by a stroke to Larisa Ilchenko, of Russia, toyed with her silver as though she were handling a priceless gem. “I can't describe how it feels, because swimming has been part of my life for 16 years,” she said.

“In that time I have thought constantly about competing in the Olympics and winning a medal. To do both is amazing. So much can go wrong in such a long race. With 1,000 metres to go I felt like I had a good chance of at least getting a medal. I'm happy to have the silver. I'll probably have a cry later on when it's sunk in and I've spoke to my parents.” Mother and father, Patricia and Jim, were watching back home in Oldham.

Patten had her family at hand and tears flowed lakeside, emotions running high after six years of toil and commitment. “I couldn't have done this without Kez [Payne], without Sean [Kelly, her coach], without my parents,” Patten said.

Patten will long be remembered as the woman who leapt over the lane ropes after Rebecca Adlington's victory in the 800 metres freestyle and then decided to run the gauntlet of international television crews, stopping for each camera to pass on a message to Her Majesty: “Hello, Queenie. If Queenie is watching, this girl [Adlington] should be made a Dame, Dame Rebecca Adlington. Two Olympic golds is awesome. She's my best mate so I'm allowed to say that.”

If the rate of progress in British sport continues, there will be a lot more curtsying going on post-London 2012.