Olympic Medallist Visits

BRITISH Olympic bronze medallist Stephen Parry has passed on some of his knowledge to local swimmers. In Athens in 2004 he came in third behind the legendary Michael Phelps to secure the team's first medal in eight years.

Building up to that time, controversial performance director of British swimming Bill Sweetenham, recently cleared of bullying allegations, caused Parry some concerns.

'With Bill, we had a really successful period under him, but I think he made some decisions in the Olympic year that wound a lot of swimmers up, including myself,' said Parry.

'But having spoken to him for a long time afterwards, I believe he had swimmers' best interests at heart. I've not been in the team for a year or so, but what's important going forward is the same stuff I've been saying to these kids: if you're going to be successful as an individual, you have to be successful as a team.'

He added that whatever came out of the independent report on the bullying allegations made in the Times newspaper, the British swimming team had to decide they had faith in each other and could move forward.

On Saturday Parry held a training session for about 60 youngsters at the Grammar School pool and later that evening was guest of honour at the Guernsey Swimming Club presentation evening.

'It was just about getting the kids motivated and into the team philosophy as opposed to a more technical session,' he said.

'They were brilliant, have got a fantastic attitude to their sport and aren't afraid to try new things as well.'

He said it was about teaching those present not to worry about failing and to give everything, not just in swimming, but in life.

'I hope they've had fun, shared a good day with team mates and taken away a few principles that will help them to PBs, beat some other clubs and beat the Jersey team.'

Parry described his Olympic experience as a 'roller coaster.'

He only scraped through his heat as the slowest qualifier for the semis.

'Using some of the techniques I've spoken about today, I came back and broke the Commonwealth record.'

In winning his semi-final, he became one of only a handful of swimmers to beat Phelps.

For the first time in his life, he believed he could win gold.

'I decided to go out and try to win gold. Coming down the last length I was level with Phelps. I thought I was going to win, I got the spine tingles, but I had gone out a little too hard and started to die and ended up getting the bronze,' said Parry.

It was a high-quality race. In winning, Phelps set a new Olympic record, second-placed Takashi Yamamoto broke the Asian record, while Parry again broke the Commonwealth record.