STEPHEN Parry scraped into the semi-finals of the 200m butterfly after he "messed up" the finish to his heat today.

The 27-year-old Stockport Metro swimmer is another medal contender, having secured the fourth best time in the world this year, although his chances of a gold are seemingly ruled out by the presence of American sensation Michael Phelps in the event.

However, after finishing sixth in his heat in a time of 1:58.88, Parry faced an anxious wait for the completion of the session before learning that he grabbed the 16th and final qualifying spot, squeezing through by 0.05 of a second.

"I am a bit surprised because I thought I was going really well but I messed up at the end," said Parry. "I don't know what went wrong."

Phelps looked comfortable as he made it into the final with the second fastest qualifying time overall, behind Japan's Takashi Yamamoto.

Three days into the homecoming of the modern Olympics and crowd levels at many venues are becoming a major concern.

The Greeks defied their critics in managing, albeit at the last minute, to get the venues ready in time for the start of the Games.

But it seems they have been less successful at the box office with Athenians picking and choosing the events they watch.

Venus Williams played her opening match of the women's tennis event against Melinda Czink of Hungary with only 500 fans present.

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