Alexandre Despatie back on board with silver at FINA Grand Prix

May 29th, 2009

Alexandre Despatie

MADRID – Two-time Olympic medallist Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., competed for the first time in nearly 10 months and won the silver medal on men’s three-metre on Friday at a FINA Grand Prix diving competition. Sisters Carol-Ann Ware and Pamela Ware of Ottenburn Park, Que added another silver in women’s 10-metre synchro.

On men’s three-metre, Shixin Li of China won the gold medal with 504.50 points followed by Despatie in second at 473.10 and Javier Illana of Spain in third at 446.80. François Imbeau-Dulac of St-Lazare, Que., was fifth in his semifinal heat and placed eighth overall.

Despatie had not competed since the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing to heal from back and knee injuries which have plagued him the last couple of years.

‘’Considering the circumstances I’m pleased with my performance today,’’ said Despatie, who earned 9.0’s on his opening two dives in the final and at least 8.0’s on his other four. ‘’I had a solid three weeks of training leading up to this event. But it was obvious that I lack some training right now. This gives me a base to work from.’’

With the world aquatic championships less than two months away, Despatie feels he has enough time to be at peak performance for the worlds.

‘’I now have a clear road ahead to put in the hours and amount of training I need to get back to the level I was at last year for the Olympics,’’ he said. ‘’Physically I feel great right now. I wasn’t too nervous today, I was just anxious to compete.’’

In the women’s 10-metre synchro, Tian Liu and Jiao Liu of China were the winners with 308.70 points. The Ware sisters, fourth at the world juniors last year, followed at 291.66 for their first career Grand Prix medal. Audrey Labeau and Claire Febvay of France were third at 276.18.

‘’This is just great,’’ said Carol-Ann Ware, 18, two years older than her sister. ‘’It is an unexpected result but it went really well for both of us. We’ve improved a lot this season and everything seems to be clicking for us right now.’’

On women’s 10-metre tower, Rachel Kemp of Victoria was fourth and Carol-Ann Ware fifth. Yadan Hu led China to a 1-2 finish with Jiao Liu finishing second.

Competition continues Saturday.

About the FINA Grand Prix
Held since 1995, the FINA Grand Prix is similar in format to the World Cups in alpine skiing and speed skating. This season there are five stops, including the Canada Cup from April 30-May 3 in Montreal, Quebec.

About Diving Plongeon Canada
Diving Plongeon Canada (DPC) was established in 1967 as a not-for-profit organization to promote the growth and awareness of the sport in this country. As a member of FINA, the world’s governing body of aquatic sports, DPC contributes to the development of globally accepted standards of excellence in diving and supports the rules and regulations of international competition. Representing nine provincial diving associations, 67 local diving clubs and close to 4,000 high performance athletes, DPC shares a national commitment to advance the art and sport of diving and to position Canada as the number one diving nation of the world.  For information, visit www.diving.ca.

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