Alexandre Despatie

I'm back, finally after a fantastic visit to Ottawa! Boy was it great.

Now, I'm back to my sports writer mode and will now start posting.

ALEXANDRE DESPATIE

It's hard to imagine yourself tumbling off a 10 metre platform; do beautiful twists and turns in mid-air, then entering a swimming pool head first making a splash that you will miss if you blink. Sounds impressive, eh? I've always been compelled by the posrt of diving and coming from a diving superpower nation by the name of China, I've seen my share of outstanding divers. Close to home, my hometown Wuhan produced a 4 time Olympic champion diver, Fu Mingxia. She was just 13 when she first participated in the Barcelona Games of 1992!

I encountered another superstar diver here in Canada. His name is Alexandre Despatie. The 22 year old who was born in Laval, Quebec has more than 30 championships under his belt, including Commonwealth and World. Despatie is also the proud owner of an Olympic Silver Medal. This guy is no short of amazing. Actually, he's been amazing for 9 years now! It began in the 1998 Commonwealth games where Despatie saw action as a 13 year old! His dives were already unbelievably awesome back then, but who would dare to say this Canadian phenom would become Commonwealth Champion? There was a bewitching spirit in Kuala Lumpur on that night. The then Alexandre, who wasn't even in high school yet, "out-dove" all the competitors on the 10 metre platform and set a Commonwealth record on his was to snagging the gold medal! He waved our Maple Leaf, he pumped his fists and he made Canada proud!

The pride of Laval entered the 2000 Sydney games with high expectations. Canada wasn't let down, of course. Alexandre finished fourth on the 10 metre platform, not too shabby for a 15 year old! Despatie was "fantastique". In the first few years of the new millenium, Despatie kept adding to the mantlepiece with gold medals at the World Aquatic Championships, Grand Prix Championships, and Pan American Games, oh and he defended that Commonwealth title as well in 2002. Daily, the tireless athlete wakes up at 7:30 AM then its splash time at Claude-Robillard Centre. In the afternoon, he does important out of pool training. I'd call it a pretty busy, hectic and exhausting day, but that's the life of a pro athlete. You gotta give maximum effort and Alexandre belongs right in that category.

Going into Athens, expectations were again set high for Despatie. And again, he did brilliant picking up a shiny silver medal on the 3 metre. On the tower though, Alexandre just couldn't bear the extraordinary Chinese and got himself a marvelous 4th place once again. The young 19 year old was also an ambassador for McDonald's Restaurants in Quebec and like you would've guessed, the honour was given to him after the '98 victory, when he was just 14.

Three more gold came his way at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. What more can you ask for, except that big missing piece in the puzzle. The distinguished Olympic Gold and the eternal and elite title of Olympic Champion is the only thing missing in this sensational diver's life. So what do you say, Alex, can you mix together the right formula again and make Canada proud one more time? The sky is the limit and the next stop is Beijing.

-D