Alexandre Despatie

Alexandre Despatie
Personal information
Nationality:	Canada
Discipline (s) :	Artistic / tower / synchronized jumping
Birthday:	June 8, 1985
Place of birth:	Montreal
Size:	173 cm
Weight:	76 kg

Alexandre Despatie (born June 8, 1985 in Montreal ) is a Canadian water diver .

Despatie started exercising at the age of six. During his schooldays at Andre Gasset College he developed into one of the most hopeful talents in Canada. He achieved his first international top placement in 1998 at the age of 13 with his victory in the 10 m high diving at the Commonwealth Games . As the youngest winner in a water jumping competition, he was entered in the Guinness Book of Records .

At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , he took fourth place from the tower. The following year he won silver in the same competition at the 2001 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka and was finally world champion two years later at the 2003 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona .

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , he and his teammate Philippe Comtois finished fifth in synchronized diving from the tower . In the individual, he won the silver medal from the 3 m board and as the current world champion from the 10 m tower was only fourth as one of the favorites.

Silver medal winner Alexandre Despatie together with Qin Kai (left, bronze) and He Chong (gold) at the Olympic Games in Beijing (2008)

In 2005, Alexandre Despatie won the swimming world championships in his Canadian homeland, Montreal, in the competition from the 3 m board in front of the American Troy Dumais and the Chinese He Chong . With 813.60 points, Despatie was the first water diver to overcome the magical hurdle of 800 points at a world championship . For a short time he also won the competition on the 1m board with 489.69 points, ahead of the Chinese defending champion Xiang Xu (445.68) and his compatriot Wang Feng (445.56).

At the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne he again won two medals, silver from the 3 m board and together with Arturo Miranda in 3 m synchronized jumping. In the following year he was able to repeat his silver medal from the 3 m board in Athens at the Olympic Games in Beijing , in synchronized jumping he was fifth with Miranda. He was also able to win two medals at the 2009 World Championships , bronze from the 3 m board and with his new synchronizing partner Reuben Ross in 3 m synchronized jumping.

Despatie also won a total of eleven medals at Commonwealth Games, including nine gold medals. This makes him the most successful Canadian athlete at the Games. He won seven other medals at the Pan American Games, including four gold medals.

Of Diving Canada Despatie was between 2000 and 2003 four consecutive to the water Springer of the year selected. The Canadian Swimming Association named him Sportsman of the Year in 2000 and 2001 . Despatie is now being trained by his former dubbing partner Arturo Miranda.

Web links

• Alexandre Despatie in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• - Alexandre Despatie's official website (in English and French)