Liverpool's Stephen Parry last night dedicated his Olympic medal to his father after ending Britain's eight-year drought in the men's 200 metres butterfly in Athens.

Parry produced a brilliant swim to break his own British record for the second time in 24 hours and claim the bronze medal behind teenage sensation Michael Phelps and Japan's Takashi Yamamoto.

It was the perfect morale booster for a British team already under pressure for a worse than expected showing in the pool, and still haunted by the memory of failing to return from Sydney without a single medal for the first time since 1936.

And it was the ideal tonic for the swimmer's father Dave, who contracted shingles last week and was told just 12 hours before he was due to leave for Athens he could not travel.

''I know it sounds a cliche but it's a dream come true,'' said an ecstatic Parry, who was fittingly presented with his medal by HRH Princess Anne, herself a former Olympic medal winner and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

''Unfortunately my dad was taken ill last week and couldn't come out so I've got a medal for him. In life there is one key ingredient and that's your parents and they have been brilliant in their support for me.

''My dad had better be hitting the beers now, he should be celebrating. It's just an amazing feeling, I can't describe what it's like to be an Olympic medallist. It's wonderful.''

Parry had been the slowest qualifier from the heats but broke his own British record from lane eight in the semi-finals to qualify fastest for last night's final.

The 27-year-old knew that was no guarantee of a medal however, with hot favourite Phelps having qualified second quickest despite having contested the thrilling 200m freestyle final against Ian Thorpe just 45 minutes earlier that evening.

But after finishing sixth in the Olympic final four years ago and fourth in the world championships in Barcelona last year, Parry finally forced his way onto the podium with a time of one minute 55.52 seconds.

''I thought I'd lost it at the end a little bit,'' added Parry, who revealed he watched the same part of Rocky III this afternoon which had inspired his semi-final performance.

''I saw Phelps going away with it having got really excited down the third length and I didn't expect to be there or thereabouts in the race.

''Ever since I watched Andrew Jameson win a medal in Seoul in 1988 - his mother Diane was coaching me at the time - I wanted to put on the GB vest and represent my country at an Olympic Games.

''I saw the quality of the field I was in so to come out with a medal I don't think I deserved it, but obviously I do and I'm really proud of it.

''More importantly the GB team got off to what wasn't the best of starts and we deserve better; we are on a roll now and hopefully with the sort of people we have on the team we can follow up it up with a medal or two.

''I was one of the people in Sydney who just missed out on a medal and this team is really good and we deserve better and that was the motivation for me.

"I just hope we can convert more medals.

''There are people on the team much more talented than me and there is no reason why we can't.''

Parry had the advantage of having Phelps outside him in lane five and shadowed the 19-year-old American through the opening 50m.

Phelps, the world record holder and already a gold medallist in the individual medley in Athens, continued to set the pace but Parry remained in second place through the 100 and 150m turns.

It looked as though he would be able to hold on for silver only for Yamamoto to edge past him in the final 20m, but the 30-strong posse of team-mates and officials, including national performance director Bill Sweetenham, still roared their approval - and no doubt relief.

Phelps' winning time of 1:54.04 was a new Olympic record, Yamamoto just over half a second adrift.

The men's 4x200m freestyle team then came agonisingly close to claiming a second bronze medal of the evening.

The quartet of Simon Burnett, Gavin Meadows, David O'Brien and Ross Davenport set a new British record of 7:12.60 in finishing fourth behind America, Australia and Italy.

Burnett, seventh in the individual event, was third after the opening leg but Meadows then slipped to fourth and O'Brien - in for David Carry after the morning's heats - and Davenport could never quite catch the Italian quartet.

The American victory gave Phelps his second gold medal of the evening and third of the Games, the teenager swimming the first leg and giving his team a lead they never relinquished, even when Australia's Ian Thorpe chased down Klete Keller on the final leg.

It was not all good news for the British team however, with Ian Edmond disqualified from the semi-finals of the 200m breaststroke and Georgina Lee failing to reach the final of the 200m butterfly.

Edmond, the world silver medallist, was fifth in his heat with a time of 2:12.34, and would have missed out on the final in ninth overall.

However, the 26-year-old was immediately disqualified for using a fly kick on one of the turns.

''They said it was a fly kick off the turn but I wasn't aware of anything,'' said Edmond, who was also disqualified from the world championships in 2001 for an illegal stroke.

''It's always been a controversial issue in breaststroke.

"I personally don't think I did it but I'll have to have a look at the video.

''Ignoring that it was a disappointing swim.

"I don't know why and I'm going to have to have a look at it.'