Stephen Parry (swimmer)

Stephen ("Steve") Benjamin Parry (born March 2, 1977) is a former British middle-distance 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 decided he wanted to take part in the Junior European 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

External links

* [http://www.britishswimming.org/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,5157-182814-200032-42689-269418-custom-item,00.html Profile on British Swimming]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pa/steve-parry-1.html Profile]