diff --git a/asyncpg/connection.py b/asyncpg/connection.py
index 9e0dba8e..ace6b337 100644
--- a/asyncpg/connection.py
+++ b/asyncpg/connection.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def __init__(self, protocol, transport, loop,
         #
         # Used for `con.fetchval()`, `con.fetch()`, `con.fetchrow()`,
         # `con.execute()`, and `con.executemany()`.
-        self._stmt_exclusive_section = _Atomic()
+        self._stmt_exclusive_section = asyncio.Lock(loop=loop)
 
         if loop.get_debug():
             self._source_traceback = _extract_stack()
@@ -1409,7 +1409,7 @@ async def reload_schema_state(self):
         self._drop_global_statement_cache()
 
     async def _execute(self, query, args, limit, timeout, return_status=False):
-        with self._stmt_exclusive_section:
+        async with self._stmt_exclusive_section:
             result, _ = await self.__execute(
                 query, args, limit, timeout, return_status=return_status)
         return result
@@ -1425,7 +1425,7 @@ async def _executemany(self, query, args, timeout):
         executor = lambda stmt, timeout: self._protocol.bind_execute_many(
             stmt, args, '', timeout)
         timeout = self._protocol._get_timeout(timeout)
-        with self._stmt_exclusive_section:
+        async with self._stmt_exclusive_section:
             result, _ = await self._do_execute(query, executor, timeout)
         return result
 
@@ -1783,22 +1783,6 @@ def _maybe_cleanup(self):
             self._on_remove(old_entry._statement)
 
 
-class _Atomic:
-    __slots__ = ('_acquired',)
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self._acquired = 0
-
-    def __enter__(self):
-        if self._acquired:
-            raise exceptions.InterfaceError(
-                'cannot perform operation: another operation is in progress')
-        self._acquired = 1
-
-    def __exit__(self, t, e, tb):
-        self._acquired = 0
-
-
 class _ConnectionProxy:
     # Base class to enable `isinstance(Connection)` check.
     __slots__ = ()
diff --git a/tests/test_prepare.py b/tests/test_prepare.py
index 8fc06e3e..b9b2ea6d 100644
--- a/tests/test_prepare.py
+++ b/tests/test_prepare.py
@@ -383,15 +383,22 @@ async def test_prepare_20_concurrent_calls(self):
 
                 meth = getattr(self.con, methname)
 
+                footprints = []
+
+                async def _trace(awaitable, footprint_before, footprint_after):
+                    footprints.append(footprint_before)
+                    result = await awaitable
+                    footprints.append(footprint_after)
+                    return result
+
                 vf = self.loop.create_task(
-                    meth('SELECT ROW(pg_sleep(0.1), 1)'))
+                    _trace(meth('SELECT ROW(pg_sleep(0.1), 1)'), '11', '12'))
 
                 await asyncio.sleep(0.01, loop=self.loop)
 
-                with self.assertRaisesRegex(asyncpg.InterfaceError,
-                                            'another operation'):
-                    await meth('SELECT 2')
+                await _trace(meth('SELECT 2'), '21', '22')
 
+                self.assertEqual(footprints, ['11', '21', '12', '22'])
                 self.assertEqual(await vf, val)
 
     async def test_prepare_21_errors(self):