By Ian Gordon, PA Sport, Gold Coast

Liverpool's Stephen Parry is confident he can live up to his billing as Britain's best bet for an Olympic medal in the pool.

Parry is, on paper at least, the most likely member of the 41-strong team to get onto the podium.

The 23-year-old will certainly be the most recognisable British swimmer in Sydney's International Aquatic Centre having dyed his hair beach-blonde.

Parry goes into his first Games ranked fourth in the world in the 200 metres butterfly after breaking the Commonwealth record in America this year.

And he believes he is in the perfect position to come away with a medal having taken the decision last year to swim full-time after finishing his University studies in Florida.

"Being ranked fourth in the world means there is no real pressure on me," said Parry, who now lives in Manchester but remains a mad-keen Liverpool supporter.

"If you are ranked number one there is a lot more pressure on you. Funny things can happen at an Olympics and the person who is ranked top often doesn't win.

"The three guys who are ranked ahead of me - Tom Malchow, Franck Esposito and Denis Sylantyev - are all great swimmers, but I reckon anyone in the top seven in the world has a shot of a medal.

"I had to give it a lot of thought about going full-time. The pull to do a Masters degree was very strong, but I decided to devote myself to swimming especially with these Olympics in mind."

Long-time rival James Hickman is ranked eighth in the world having lost his status as Britain's top 200m butterfly exponent when Parry produced his record-breaking time of one minute 56.34 seconds.

"It's great that we have got two guys ranked so high," said 6ft 5ins Parry. "James has been a World Short Course champion and a world record holder, hopefully I can get some medals now.

"I will have to break the record to get a medal," said Parry.

"I believe I'm in good shape, but physically there is nothing I can do now. All the training has been done, now I have to get prepared mentally."