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 For a man who re-wrote the Olympic record books, those losses
could have been enough to persuade him to pack up his goggles and
quit for good, but if anything, they have only hardened his resolve.
In Australia for the Pac Pacific championships - his first
international competition since he retired after the London Olympics
- Phelps has lost none of his confidence.
His defeats at the recent U.S. National Championships were the
result of simple mistakes that he has not made since he was a kid -
but were easily fixed.
"I have been working on the basics that hopefully make a big
improvement," he told reporters at the Gold Coast on Wednesday.
"At nationals, I missed a couple of walls, jammed a couple of walls
- those were the big things that I guess I forgot how to do.
"They are the mistakes you make when you are 11 or 12 as an
age-group swimmer."
Despite all his years in the pool, the 28-year-old said his mistakes
were just a sign of his rustiness, and would be ironed out before
the bigger meets ahead that will ultimately decide the success of
his comeback.
"I probably just haven't had enough (racing) experience over the
last year," added Phelps, who in eligible to swim in up to eight
events including relays at the meet.
"I hate to lose but I know it is not going to come back overnight.
"I would rather have those instances now than further down the road
with the 2015 world champs and (2016) Olympics coming up."
FRANKLIN TROUBLES
Bob Bowman, the long-time coach of Phelps, shares his star pupil's
confidence. A master of getting the best out of Phelps, Bowman has
always loved to play mind games and his latest psychological ploy is
to talk him up.
Asked whether Phelps could swim even faster than when he retired,
Bowman replied: "That's the reason he came back.
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"If he didn't think he had the chance to get faster I don't think he would
have."
While the return of Phelps has dominated the build-up to the Pan Pacs,
which features top swimmers from the U.S. Australia, Japan and invited
competitors from around a dozen other nations, America's new queen of
the pool Missy Franklin is struggling.
The Colorado teenager has been battling back spasms all week and is in
danger of missing the four-day meet that starts on Thursday.
She needed help getting out of the pool after training on Tuesday and
skipped Wednesday's news conference with a team spokesman telling
reporters her condition was a "fluid situation."
Australia's James Magnussen, the world champion for 100 meters
freestyle, is also having back problems but said the prospect of taking
on the Americans was too tempting to even consider standing down.
"Any chance I get to represent the Australian swim team, I feel very
strongly about," he said.
"So pulling out, whilst it was an option, was never something I wanted
to consider and something I never allowed myself to think about."
(Reporting by Julian Linden; Editing by John O'Brien)
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