Misfiring Phelps admits he lost desire

Swimming icon Michael Phelps admitted he lost his passion for the sport during an unprecedented rough patch but said the hunger was back before the world championships in Shanghai. The 14-time Olympic champion won eight gold medals at the Beijing Games and five at the 2009 Rome world championships, but he has turned in poor results this year including a 400m individual medley loss to team-mate Ryan Lochte. More significantly, Phelps has been beaten in his favourite event, the 200m butterfly, three times this year -- twice to China's Wu Peng and once to Australian Nick D'Arcy -- ending a nine-year winning streak. The 26-year-old on Friday said he was still stinging from his defeats in the 200m butterfly but added that he was ready to make amends in Shanghai. "There were always things I wanted to achieve and not losing the 200 metres 'fly for the rest of my career was one of them," told reporters after a US team training session at Australia's Gold Coast. "We all know that this year that really hasn't gone as planned. "I knew (the loss) was going to come at some point but I didn't know when. It came pretty hard and it didn't feel very good." But Phelps said he was now back to his best and was raring to get to the world championships, which are just a year before the 2012 Olympics. "I want this meet to be here, I don't want to be in training camp any more," he said. "It's kind of like the old feeling that I used to get leading up to meets -- just being excited to be able to get in the water and race. "This is going to be the start for (the Olympics) next year and I think it's something that I'm ready for and something I'm looking forward to." Phelps said he hadn't felt this sense of anticipation since his golden period of 2008-09. "It certainly wasn't last year," he laughed, before explaining that his coach almost had to twist his arm to get him "kicking and screaming" into the pool. "I feel a lot better and more relaxed in the water than I have in a long time. I actually feel like I can swim, my strokes feel good," he said. "But after having messed around for two years it's hard to know where I stand. I'm taking steps in the right direction and I know that, and I think that's something that I'm fairly happy with." Phelps said he was now happy to put in the hard work in training, as opposed to this time last year. "There are always (training sessions) that you don't want to do, but in the last two years I just wouldn't do them. "I wouldn't try or I would just get out of the pool and now I realise that if I want to accomplish the goals that I have, I need to do some of the things I don't always want to do." Lochte, who won two gold medals in Beijing, said he was using the Shanghai championships as a key build-up to the London Olympics. "I was always told that the year before the Olympics is the most important year," he said. "If you get focused for the year before the Olympics you have that background and it just carries on for the Olympic year." While Phelps and Lochte are the undoubted stars of the US team, dual gold medallist Natalie Coughlin will be aiming to cap her comeback with success in Shanghai. Coughlin has not been seen on the international stage since she won gold in Beijing, the 28-year-old backstroker taking a two-year sabbatical following the Olympics. Coughlin said she was exhausted physically and emotionally after Beijing and needed time away from the pool. "I'm 28, almost 29, and I've been competing since I was six years old, and I think it was necessary for me to step away for a while," she said. Coughlin said the most exciting development for her was the emergence of competitors from non-traditional swimming powers. "It's not just US and Australia but there are Chinese swimmers who are very, very fast, Japanese swimmers, a lot of Europeans, South Africans, Brazilians," she said. "There are great swimmers from all over the world and I think having such great competition will only help everyone to improve. "It makes for a great world championships."