Sport 18-08-2004 Swimmer Parry Lifts Medal Gloom who: Olympic swimmer Stephen Parry what: Wins bronze medal in the 200 metres butterfly where: Athens, Greece when: Yesterday snippet: Liverpudlian Stephen Parry "ended Britain`s eight-year wait for an Olympic swimming medal in stirring fashion here last night by taking bronze in the 200 metres butterfly final," says The Independent`s Nick Harris as Team GB doubled their haul with a second medal in Athens yesterday. "I don`t feel I deserve a medal but I must do, and I`m proud of it," a modest Parry tells The Telegraph, having finished behind new champion Michael Phelps and Japan`s Takashi Yamamoto in a new British and Commonwealth record time of 1min 55.52 seconds. Towards the end of the race, he admits that he just "said my prayers, gritted my teeth and just dug in there." There`s no such good news in the equestrian event, as The Independent reports that fifth-placed William Fox-Pitt has been forced to withdraw due to an injury to the leg of his horse, Tamarillo, sustained during the cross-country section. Great Britain`s defending champion Richard Faulds failed to hold on to his double trap shooting title, says The Guardian, but can console himself slightly with the fact that the winner Ahmed al-Maktoum, "produced a near-immaculate display", missing only 11 times out of 200 - "such was his dominance in the final that his first 34 attempts were hits." So, it`s all down to Paula, says The Guardian`s Richard Williams, who The Sun is now convinced is fit after yesterday telling the world she is still suffering from a calf injury. "An awful lot of Britain`s hopes will be riding on the slender shoulders of Radcliffe when she crosses the start line in the village of Marathon on Sunday," warns Williams, adding that as Britain`s only serious track and field hope, "it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that more than a single gold medal will hang on her fortunes in the coming days." [... more]

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