Alexandre Despatie
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Alexandre Despatie (born June 8, 1985 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian diver. He was the World champion at the 1 and 3m springboard from 2005 to 2007 and is the first, and so far only, diver to have been World champion in the three categories (1, 3 and 10m platform). He is also the 36 times Canadian senior diving champion.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Competition
Despatie began diving at the age of 5 in his own backyard pool. He first came to public attention at the 1998 Commonwealth Games with an extremely impressive gold medal on the 10 metre platform (which included an unprecedented score of perfect 10s). He was only 13 years old at the time, and the achievement was recorded in the Guinness Book Of World Records 2000.
At the Olympic games in Sydney in 2000, with a 4th place finish at the 10-metre platform, he was offered the chance to compete in the springboard event in those games as well when one of the Canadian divers had to withdraw from the meet due to complications with his citizenship, but declined because he had not been training for that event.
He won the silver medal at the world championships in 2001 in Fukuoka, Japan in the same event, and in 2003 won a gold medal at the World Diving championships in Barcelona, Spain in the 10 metre platform. He recorded 107.1 for his last dive, which set a new record.
At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Despatie won the gold medal in the three-metre springboard event, followed by three gold medals at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
At the Olympics in 2004 in Athens, Greece, he won the silver medal in the men's 3 metre springboard competition, but finished out of the medal standings in fourth place in the 10 metre platform. This finish was contrary to expectations going into the games, where he was expected to win silver or gold in 10 metre platform and not place in the springboard.
In front of his home crowd at the World Aquatic Championships 2005 in Montreal, he became World Champion on the 3 metre springboard. He won with a world record score of 813.60 points, his "worst" dive being rated an average 8.5. Alexandre followed up on that performance by winning the 1m springboard, with a world record score of 489.69. His victory meant that he had won FINA World Titles on both springboard and platform.
Despatie successfully defended his three-metre springboard title at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, winning again a gold medal. He won 3 gold medals in Melbourne: on 1m springboard, 3m springboard and 3m synchronized with Arturo Miranda. He finished 3rd in the 10m platform.
Returning to Melbourne, this time for the 2007 World Aquatic Championships, Despatie went head to head with the best divers in the world, including the top-ranked Chinese diving team. Finishing 8th in the 10m tower event and winning silver medals in the 3M event and the 3M synchro with partner Arturo Miranda, Despatie proved that he is still one of the best divers in the world and will be a medal contender in 2008. He says that he has been invigorated by his recent world championships experience and now knows what work needs to be done in order to be ready for the Beijing Olympics.
[edit] Sponsorship
Despatie has a sponsorship agreement with McDonald's Canada, and acts as an "ambassador", doing television advertisements and personal appearances.
[edit] Personal life
Alexandre attends Collège André-Grasset and lives with his parents in Laval-sur-le-Lac. In an interview with the CBC in the lead-up to the 2004 Olympics, he said he was interested in acting and television/movie production, and may pursue that as a career once he is no longer diving.
On August 2006, Alexandre started shooting his first feature film in Montreal. The movie, a teenage romantic comedy called À vos marques! Party!(Take the Plunge!) was released in Quebec in March 2007. Alexandre will play a small but important part, a diver who is the friend and confidente of a young female swimmer. Quebec actress Louise Laparé coached Despatie for his role and told a Montreal newspaper that the popular athlete was a "born actor".
[edit] See also
- CAMO Canadian National Training Centre
- Diving
- Philippe Comtois
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Alexandre Despatie on Real Champions
- Alexandre Despatie at the Internet Movie Database
