Michael Phelps has been away from international completion for quite some time and now he is competing at the Pan Pacific Championships. He is feeling the pressure of joining international games when he was asked whether he was good enough to even reach a final. He jokingly answered "Wow, you're really setting the bar high for me!" Phelps is accompanied by his long-time coach Bob Bowman during the interview.

The Pan Pac will commence on Today until the weekends. This is Phelps second game slated for his comeback. Bowman said that the only reason why Phelps returned to competing after his retirement is to challenge himself to going faster in his butterfly, medley and freestyle.

Phelps had qualified by finishing second in the 200-meter medley as well as the 100 butterfly at the U.S. nationals. Although he was not able to win any event in the US Nationals, his time was the fastest three in the world this year for his butterfly and freestyle.

Phelps admitted that he has gotten a bit rusty after retiring. He said "kind of rusty on judging the speed going into my walls," and described his turns as "awful."

He added "Those were the big things that I guess I forgot how to do. Not winning, it is what it is - I hate to lose - but I always do understand it's not going to come back instantly. I would rather have those instances now than farther down the road. World championships is next year ... Olympics the year after that. Hopefully I'll be able to fix the things now."

The competition will be held in an outside pool at the Gold Coast Aquatic Center which will also be the site of the 2018 Commonwealth Games swimming. One challenge for the games will be the weather factor as forecast shows that it's going to be rainy days ahead.

Phelps said "You have to prepare yourself for the worst-case scenario. The coaches told us about the weather conditions - we're all prepared for it."

It is going to be an advantage for long time rival and friend Ryan Lochte as he is used to practicing in the rain.