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Olympians on display
By Emmanuel Moutsatsos
Friday, July 11, 2008

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Alexandre Despatie performs a dive at the Canada Games Complex on Thursday. (The Chronicle-Journal/Jamie Smith)

Others worried.
They fretted Alexandre Despatie wouldn‘t be ready in time. When he tripped over a soccer ball back in April, clouds of doubt formed and drops of confusion fell since it was questionable whether the world-class diver‘s broken foot would heal in time.
“About today? No, no worries about today,” says Cesar Henderson, who‘s been Despatie‘s coach since he was six, “the worries were before.”
On Thursday, Despatie proved there was no reason to worry at all. In front of a hollering crowd at Thunder Bay‘s storied Canada Games Complex, which is where the national junior diving championships start today, three judges gave him the thumbs up. He‘s going to Beijing. He‘s going to the Olympics.
Despatie, who‘s a world champion and Olympic silver medalist, knew he was ready but he had to prove it. A doctor‘s note wouldn‘t be enough for him to book a trip to his third Olympic Games, he had to prove he was healed up by showing it.
“At some point he had to prove that he was ready to dive,” explains Mitch Gellar, the technical director with Diving Canada.
“The timing was horrible,” Despatie says of the injury before his evaluation that would decide if he went to Beijing or not. “It was tough, mentally and physically to stay fit and come back, but I have no doubt that I‘ll be ready for the Olympics.”
Also joining Despatie and Miranda in Thunder Bay were fellow Canadian teammates Blythe Hartley and 16-year-old Jennifer Abel, who will compete at the junior level at this meet. Hartley and Abel performed a series of exhibition dives for the crowd at the opening ceremonies.
Before he could start packing for Beijing‘s National Aquatics Centre dubbed the Water Cube, Despatie had to make a stop in Thunder Bay. The city treated him well when he last came in 2000 and it didn‘t disappoint this time around for Despatie and his synchronized diving partner Arturo Miranda. Though the day wasn‘t totally without drama since the duo were asked to do a do-over on one of their dives – “It‘s one of the hardest dives we do,” says Miranda – the event couldn‘t have gone any better for Despatie even if he wrote its script himself.
“He‘s a great diver,” Henderson says. “He knows how to compete. He knows how to prepare himself. He takes the different challenges life gives him and diving is his passion. When you enjoy what you‘re doing you just got for it.
“There is frustration for perfection,” he adds, “but everything is to get the best out of you for whatever situation comes up.”
And when Despatie is at his best, he‘s one of the best in the world, assures Henderson. If he hopes to add to the medal he won in Athens four years ago, Despatie will have to be at his best.
“A war” is what he‘s expecting and really, the lover of movies like Gladiator and Troy, is hoping it does turn into one. He knows how to deal with pressure. He knows how to handle himself when everyone‘s eyes are on him. When the spotlight shines on him, he shines. He‘s a natural and he proved that when he was just 13, which is when he won a Commonwealth gold medal with perfect 10s.
Ever since then, Despatie‘s whole life has been about facing barriers and tearing them down. This injury was just another obstacle he had to hurdle to get where he wants to be: Beijing.
“It is going to be a war,” Despatie describes. “We‘re all going there to win, we‘re all going there to be the best and it‘s going to happen on that day. It‘s going to be really exciting and it‘s going to be great and it‘s going to be huge.”
He can‘t wait.
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