Stephen Parry (swimmer)

Medal record
Men's swimming
Competitor for Great Britain
Olympic Games
Bronze	2004 Athens	200 m butterfly
European Championships (LC)
Bronze	1997 Seville	200 m butterfly
European Championships (SC)
Gold	2002 Riesa	200 m butterfly
Silver	2002 Riesa	200 m backstroke
Silver	2003 Dublin	200 m butterfly
Bronze	2000 Valencia	200 m butterfly
Bronze	2000 Valencia	4×50 m freestyle
Commonwealth Games
Competitor for England
Silver	2002 Manchester	200 m butterfly
Bronze	2002 Manchester	4×200 m freestyle
Bronze	1998 Kuala Lumpur	200 m butterfly

Stephen ("Steve") Benjamin Parry (born 2 March 1977) is a former British butterfly swimmer. He competed internationally in 100-metre and 200-metre butterfly distances.

Parry was born in Liverpool, and as a boy attended Booker Avenue Junior School and the Liverpool Blue Coat School in Wavertree. He first joined a swimming club in Woolton, and then went on to swim for the Liverpool Penguins and City of Liverpool clubs. He started training seriously when he was twelve years of age, but also enjoyed playing cricket and basketball for his school teams. Training became more intense when he was sixteen, and he qualified for the European Junior Championships. The following year, aged 17, he won the competition for Great Britain.

Aged eighteen, Parry left the UK to attend Florida State University, studying marketing and finance alongside his swimming. He excelled during his time in the United States, winning the NCAA title in the 200 m butterfly. After returning to Britain and joining Stockport Metro, he set a Commonwealth record at the 2000 US Nationals in Seattle, beating, among others, a very young Michael Phelps. Later that year he qualified for his first Olympic Games in Sydney.

Four years later in Athens, Greece, Parry won Britain's first Olympic swimming medal in eight years at the Athens Summer Olympics in 200-metres butterfly, being beaten by Michael Phelps and Takashi Yamamoto. Phelps had beaten him into 4th place at Sydney four years earlier. Parry retired from competitive swimming in 2005.

After retiring, Parry joined up with former training partner Adrian Turner to create a swimming training program for young people called Total Swimming. He briefly hosted his own Sunday afternoon programme on BBC Radio Merseyside before joining BBC Sport as part of their team covering the swimming at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Personal bests and records held

Event	Long course	Short course
200 m freestyle	1.50.92	1.48.39
100 m backstroke		53.15
200 m backstroke		1.54.11
100 m butterfly	53.80	52.53
200 m butterfly	1:55.52 NR	1.52.91
200 m individual medley		1.59.50
400 m individual medley		4.13.09
Key NR:British

External links

• British Swimming athlete profile
• Profile