August 12, 2004
Despatie opens with synchro event Saturday
Julie Scott
ATHENS -- Alexandre Despatie will take to the diving tower Saturday on the first day of official competition at the Summer Olympics but don't expect him to begin his medal haul just yet.
The 19-year-old teen from Laval will open his second Olympics with the men's 10-metre synchronized event. While he is a gold-medal contender in the individual events he and partner Philippe Comtois of Laval aren't among the favourites in synchro. "I feel very good about it because it's a good ice-breaker," Despatie said of the synchro competition. "The individual events are kind of the priority for us. Synchro is very relaxed. You're not alone out there."
While some countries focus on developing synchro diving teams, Dive Canada tends to develop the best individual divers in the world and hope when they compete in synchro, they hit the water at the same time. It worked in 2000 when Emilie Heymans and Anne Montminy won a synchro silver.
"We know we have some potential in those events, but we're not going to be devastated if we don't get any hardware," Canadian team coach Mitch Geller said, adding that bronze medals were probably the best the synchro teams could do behind the powerful Russians and Chinese.
Heymans, from St-Lambert, will compete with Blythe Hartley of Vancouver in the women's synchro springboard Saturday. Heymans' approach to the event is less laid-back than Despatie's. The synchro events don't have any preliminary rounds. It's just six dives and then the medals are handed out.
"I guess maybe it's a little more stressful because you start with the final right away," Heymans said. "You have to be good on the first dive. You cannot have any mistakes."
In addition to diving, other medal events featuring Canadians this weekend include swimming, judo, fencing and cycling. However, it's unlikely any Canadians will reach the podium in those sports.
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