Alexandre Despatie announced his arrival by diving to gold in Malaysia in 1998
Editor's note: As today marks the 26th anniversary of Alexandre Despatie's gold-medal win in Malaysia, we've brought back this feature that was originally published in 2022.There was two-year-old Alex, leaping into his family pool and eventually arriving in the arms of his mother Christiane, who would carry him back to the diving board to do it all again.
Canadian diver Alex Despatie was the youngest participant at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.: When I was nine, 10 years old, I was like: I want to go to the Olympics. And obviously the pathway to that was the Commonwealth Games.: He decided to get some experience with men and see how more experienced people in diving were doing in the world. And it was definitely his farthest trip, the biggest trip, the longest trip of his young life.
Despatie in action in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. The youngster record a 'perfect 10' during competition. : He was just very carefree. If he was nervous, you couldn't tell. And whether that was just always his cool, calm, collected nature, which he carried through the rest of his career, I don't know. Or if it was just oblivion because he was young and this is like that first multi-sport Games.
You really have to do a lot of work to stay between the top three in the world. And that's what he did.: Winning that medal just confirmed I'm a player now. I can compete with the best in the world. I can win medals. I can dream of being the best in the world.
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