 Two near exits, but a silver in pocket
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-20 08:31 Sandwiched between the two medal-winning Chinese divers last night was a Canadian athlete who almost could not make it to this Beijing Olympics. Alexandre Despatie, 23, earned his second silver in as many Games, scoring 536.65 points. However, getting to the Olympics was a battle for Despatie, who won his first international event in the 10m platform as a 13-year-old. In April, he fractured his right foot kicking a soccer ball around during warm-ups. That caused him to miss seven weeks of training and prevented him from attending the Olympic diving trials. He had to attend the Canadian junior nationals in early July and dive before a panel of judges to prove his fitness. The silver made up for a horrendous preliminary round on Monday, where he almost failed to make the top 18 to advance. "My point was to forget about what happened in the prelims. I came in this morning and it's a brand new day, and mentally I felt much better than I did yesterday," Despatie said. Agencies (China Daily 08/20/2008 page7) |
