CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nothing fires up Michael Phelps like a loss.
Well, he’s got two of them to stew over.

Phelps lost for the second night in a row when Frederick Bousquet blew him away in the 100-meter freestyle Sunday, the final event of the Charlotte UltraSwim.
Even though Phelps kept switching up his stroke in a desperate bid to keep up with the flying Frenchman, it wasn’t close at the end.
Bousquet led by nearly a second at the turn and finished in 48.22 seconds. Phelps was about a half-body length behind when they touched, taking second in 49.04.
“My turn and my finish were awful. I knew as soon as I turned,” Phelps said. “I took an extra stroke going to the wall. I needed an extra stroke going to the finish. I’m mad at myself because I wanted to break 49. To be five-hundredths off it with the two stupid mistakes I made is kind of frustrating.”
Kind of frustrating. Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, must like the sound of that.
Bowman had to leave the meet a day early to attend a clinic in Chicago. But before heading to the airport, he predicted that Phelps would be eager to return to training after losing to world-record holder Aaron Peirsol in the 100 backstroke on Saturday.
Now, he’s twice as motivated.
“I always train better after a meet,” Phelps said. “It’s these times, when you’re coming off a meet and you’re disappointed and you have things that upset you, that’s the best time to get back in the water and train. That’s what I’ve always done.”
Bousquet went out strong, ensuring he had a big enough lead to hold off Phelps at the end — even as the winningest Olympian ever experimented with a new straight-arm technique that is supposed to provide more speed.
“Whenever you race that guy, you can’t count on your back-end speed to beat him,” Bousquet said. “I knew I had to use my strength, which is my speed, and go out as fast as I could.”
This was Phelps’ first meet since he captured a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. The nine-month layoff was the longest of his career, though he had intended to come back earlier — after being photographed using a marijuana pipe, a picture that wound up on the front page of a British tabloid, he was given a three-month suspension by USA Swimming.
The sanction ended May 5, and Phelps was eager to start competing again. He entered five events at Charlotte and won the first two, the 200 free and 100 back, both of which were part of his gold-medal haul in China.
But Phelps still has some work to do in the 100 back and 100 free, two events he hopes to add to his repertoire while dropping several races he won at Athens and Beijing. It’s all part of his plan to take on new challenges — and stay motivated — heading into his final Olympics at London.
Nothing gets him going like a loss. Or two.
“This is something that will motivate me to fix those things over the next few weeks,” said Phelps, who holds the American record in the 100 free at 47.51. “I’m kind of mad at myself.”
He’ll head off for three weeks of altitude training in Colorado, which he basically described as nothing but “eat, sleep and swim.” Then he’ll get in a couple of June meets in Montreal and Santa Clara, Calif., before heading off to the national championships at Indianapolis in early July.
That meet will serve as the trials for the world championships, which are later that month in Rome and the highlight of 2009.
“This is my favorite part about it. I love to compete,” Phelps said. “To be able to be back in the pool and competing again, I guess you could say that really does turn a switch.”
Racing Bousquet, Phelps had to take an extra stroke going into the turn, nearly crashing into the wall as he flipped his 6-foot-4 body. He needed one more stroke than usual at the finish, as well.
He again tried out a straight-arm stroke that he believes will help him be more competitive in the sprint events.
Phelps started out with the standard motion — elbow bent — before switching to the windmill-like stroke for the second half of the opening lap. After the flip, he went back to the regular stroke, then switched again to the straight arm for the final 15 meters.
Bousquet was amazed.
“Did he do that? Really? Whoa,” said the Frenchman, who last month became the first swimmer to break 21 seconds in the 50 free. “That’s even more impressive. To go 49.0, which is a pretty decent time in season, and change up the strokes a couple of times during the race, that’s pretty impressive.”
All things considered, Phelps said he was pleased with his performance over three days in North Carolina. In addition to the two wins and two runner-up finishes, he entered the 50 free to get in some extra work with his new stroke. He actually qualified for the final of that event — barely — but scratched.
“For my first meet back, I have no complaints,” he said. “We’re on the right track. This is exactly where I want to be.”
Bousquet covered the opening lap in a blistering 22.83 seconds, 0.99 ahead of Phelps, and didn’t lose much of his advantage on the return to the wall.
Phelps knows what he needs to work on.
“I need some of Fred’s first-half speed,” the American marveled. “He sure takes it out.”
Bousquet was a late addition to the four-day meet. He doesn’t usually swim the 100 free in season, but couldn’t pass up a chance to go against Phelps.
“The fact he was in the race and the fact we were next to each other, too, definitely helped me to get motivated and get my head into it,” Bousquet said.