Alexandre Despatie
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Born | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | June 8, 1985|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home town | Laval, Quebec, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Country | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 3 m springboard, 3 m synchro | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Partner | Reuben Ross | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Former partner(s) | Arturo Miranda, Philippe Comtois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Alexandre Despatie (French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ depati]; born June 8, 1985) is a Canadian diver and broadcaster from Laval, Quebec. He was the world champion at the 1 and 3 m springboards from 2005 to 2007 and is the first, and so far only, diver to have been world champion in all three individual categories (1, 3 and 10 m platform).[1] He is also a 37-time Canadian senior diving champion and nine-time junior champion, and the most decorated male diver in Canadian history, winning two Olympic silver medals and reaching eight podiums at the world championships, including three gold medals.[2] He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Diving career
[edit]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.[2]
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 2004 Summer Olympics 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.[3] This result was contrary to expectations going into the games, where he was expected to win silver or gold in the 10 metre platform event and not place in the 3 metre springboard.
In front of his home crowd at the 2005 World Aquatic Championships 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. Despatie followed up on that performance by winning the 1 m 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-meter springboard title at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and also won gold medals on 1 m springboard and 3 m synchronized with Arturo Miranda. He finished 3rd in the 10m platform.
Returning to Melbourne, this time for the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, Despatie went head to head with the best divers in the world, including the top-ranked Chinese diving team. Finishing 8th in the 10 m tower event and winning silver medals in the 3 m event and the 3 m synchro with partner Arturo Miranda, Despatie proved that he was one of the world's best divers.
At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he claimed a silver medal in the 3m springboard event[4] and finished in 5th place in the 3m synchro event.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Alexandre got 3 gold medals for Canada, in the 1 metre and 3 metre springboard, and 3 metre synchronized springboard dive.
Television career
[edit]Despatie announced his retirement during a news conference in Montreal on June 4, 2013.[5] On June 6, he was announced as the cohost of Breakfast Television's Montreal edition, set to premiere on City Montreal on August 26, 2013.[6]
In 2015, Despatie left the show, and was replaced by Derek Fage.
In 2021, Despatie appeared on Chanteurs masqués, a Quebecois version of the popular TV show The Masked Singer. He appeared as "Gâteau" (Cake) and placed 8th overall.
In 2023, Despatie competed on Big Brother Célébrités. He is the 4th person evicted and lasts 29 days.
Honors
[edit]In 2018, Despatie was awarded the Order of Sport, marking his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[7][1]
Personal life
[edit]Despatie attended Collège André-Grasset. 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, although he is also known to support groups and aspiring divers and to help them fulfill their dreams through private contributions to youth diving leagues. He has held diving clinics which aim to give young divers lessons and valuable experience.
In August 2006, Despatie started shooting his first feature film in Montreal. The movie, a teenage romantic comedy called Taking the Plunge (À vos marques... party!) was released in Quebec in March 2007. Despatie played a small but important part of a diver who is the friend and confidant 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".[citation needed]
He has since moved towards a career in broadcasting, joining the broadcast team for Canada's French-language television coverage of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver during a brief break from training for the 2012 Games. He co-anchored the coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies alongside legendary Quebec hockey commentators Richard Garneau and Pierre Houde, narrated numerous athlete profiles, and took viewers on a tour of Granville Island, where many francophone musicians performed during the Olympics.
See also
[edit]- CAMO Canadian National Training Centre
- Diving
- Philippe Comtois
References
[edit]- ^ a b Strong, Gregory (October 18, 2018). "Canadian Sports Hall of Fame welcomes 8 of country's best". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- ^ a b Dichter, Myles (July 27, 2022). "CBC Sports Oral Histories: How a 13-year-old Canadian won a historic Commonwealth Games gold". CBC Sports. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Alexandre Despatie". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 4, 2016.
- ^ "Roll call: Canada's medal winners". Sympatico MSN. August 23, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008. [dead link ]
- ^ Alexandre Despatie retires from diving, CBC Sports, Toronto, Canada, 4 June, 2013.Retrieved: 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Alexandre Despatie named co-host of City Montreal’s morning show" Archived September 30, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. The Gazette, June 8, 2013.
- ^ "2018 Induction Celebrations". Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 29, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
External links
[edit]- Alexandre Despatie at World Aquatics
- Alexandre Despatie at Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
- Alexandre Despatie at Team Canada
- Alexandre Despatie at Olympics.com
- Alexandre Despatie at Olympic.org (archived)
- Alexandre Despatie at Olympedia (archive)
- Alexandre Despatie at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
- Alexandre Despatie at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (archived)
- Alexandre Despatie at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games (archived)
- Alexandre Despatie at IMDb
- Alexandre Despatie on Real Champions at the Wayback Machine (archived September 12, 2007)
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived March 1, 2012)
- 1985 births
- Living people
- Canadian male divers
- Canadian male film actors
- Canadian television hosts
- World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving
- Olympic divers for Canada
- Olympic silver medalists for Canada
- Olympic medalists in diving
- Divers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Divers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Divers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Divers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games divers for Canada
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada
- Commonwealth Games medallists in diving
- Divers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
- Divers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
- Divers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
- Divers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
- Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
- Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada
- Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada
- Pan American Games medalists in diving
- Divers at the 2003 Pan American Games
- Divers at the 2007 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games
- Divers from Montreal
- Sportspeople from Laval, Quebec
- 21st-century Canadian sportsmen