FOR THE RECORD: 2000 OLYMPIC GAMES: 4 th (10m platform) 2004 OLYMPIC
GAMES: silver (3m springboard); 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES: silver (3m
springboard), 5 th (3m synchro); 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES: finalist (3m springboard
& 3m synchro); WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2001: silver (10m platform); 2003:
gold (10m platform); 2005: gold (1m & 3m springboard); 2007: silver (3m
springboard & 3m synchro); 2009: bronze (3m springboard & 3m synchro);
COMMONWEALTH GAMES: 1998: gold (10m platform); 2002: gold (1m & 3m
springboard), silver (10m platform); 2006: gold (1m, 3m & 3m synchro), bronze
(10m platform); 2010: gold (1m, 3m & 3m synchro); PAN AMERICAN GAMES:
2003: gold (3m, 3m synchro & 10m synchro), bronze (10m platform); 2007: gold
(3m springboard), bronze (3m synchro &10m platform); 37 CANADIAN
NATIONAL TITLES; 2018 CANADIAN SPORTS HALL OF FAME
He began diving at the age of five in his own backyard pool and eventually joined
team Camo in Montreal where he stayed his entire career. As a young diver, Greg
Louganis soon became his idol.
As a nine-time Canadian Junior Champion, Alexandre Despatie got his first big
break internationally at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. At just 13, he walked
away with a gold medal on the 10-meter, which included a round of perfect 10’s,
making him the youngest winner of in the history of the Commonwealth Games in
any sport.
At his first Olympic Games in 2000, he finished in 4th-place on the 10m platform.
He won the silver medal at the World Championships in 2001 in the same event,
and eventually gold in 2003, again on the platform, again at the FINA World
Championships. He even set a points record of 107.1 for his last dive.
Now diving on the 3m springboard and in synchronized diving, Despatie began
winning even more medals. he won gold on the 3m at the 2002 Commonwealth
Games, followed by three gold medals at the 2003 Pan American Games on the 3m,
3m synchro and 10m synchro.
He surprised everyone at the 2004 Centennial Olympics in Athens, when he took
the silver medal in the men’s 3m springboard competition yet finished out of the
medal contention in the 10m platform, where he was expected to win the
competition or at least medal.
In 2005, he put on a spectacular performance for his hometown crowd, at the 2005
FINA World Championships in Montreal. He won gold and became World Champion
on the 3m springboard, winning with a world record score of 813.60 points, and
followed it up with a win on the 1m springboard, making it his second FINA World
Title of the Championships.
Returning to World Championship competition in 2007, Despatie took silver medals
in the 3m event and in the 3m synchro with partner Arturo Miranda, proving, yet
again, that he was one of the world’s greatest divers.
He would go on to compete in two more Olympic Games. At the 2008 games in
Beijing, Alex earned a second Olympic silver medal in 3-meter, despite having
broken a bone in his foot just four months earlier.
His final Olympic performance came in 2012, despite an injury just six weeks
earlier. Despatie severely hit his head on the board requiring stiches. Still, he made
the finals in the 3-meter in both the 3-meter and in the synchronized event for the
fourth straight Olympic Games.
Alexandre Despatie is the only diver to ever be crowned World Champion in all
three individual events, the 1- and 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform.
In 2018, Despatie was awarded Order of the Sport, marking his induction into
Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.