Parry preparing to swim in Phelps' shadow

British swimmer Stephen Parry knows he could be one of many competitors racing for second place if Michael Phelps lives up to his star billing in Athens.

Parry finished sixth in the 200-metre butterfly in Sydney, one place behind 15-year-old American Phelps.

The teenager from Baltimore has since gone on to become the latest superstar in world swimming and is attempting to beat Mark Spitz’s record of seven golds in one Olympics.

Parry concedes he may be among those battling for the minor places if Phelps produces the sort of form which saw him win three gold medals, two silver and set five world records in last year’s World Championships in Barcelona - including a time of one minute 53.93 seconds in the 200m butterfly.

“I am ranked in the same position going into Athens as I was in Sydney, still in fourth place. But it is like the 50m freestyle.

"There are 15 hundredths of a second between silver medal position and seventh, and that is going to be very exciting and quite nerve-wracking as well,” said the 27-year-old from Manchester.

“At the World Championships I turned on world record pace with Phelps and I thought I was doing absolutely awful down that last length as he pulled away, but when I touched the wall it was a Commonwealth record.”