The maestro was all class once again, despite there being none to push him. In the same vein, Alexandre Despatie as a young boy had given his older rivals a run for their money, while making his Commonwealth Games debut at the age of 13 in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. Now, three Games and 12 years later, the 25-year-old Canadian, hailing from Montreal, can only compete against himself.
But all the same, at the Dr. S. P. Mukherjee aquatic complex on Monday, the ace diver found motivation for himself once again as he dived into Games history, by successfully defending his 3m springboard title for a third time in-a-row with a whopping total of 513.75 points. And what more, became the second athlete in the history of the CWG to win two different events over three successive Games, the first such feat having come last week through Australian breaststroke specialist, Leisel Jones.
Great effort
Having defended the 1m springboard title on Sunday evening, it would be an understatement to say that all eyes were on this silver medallist of the Beijing Olympics. But Despatie never showed any pressure as he remained focussed all through the six dives in the final. Starting off with a back two-and-a-half somersault, the Canadian was in the lead straightaway, the effort fetching him 81.00 points.
And while the others including Indian T. Hariprasad struggled to find their usual rhythm, Despatie just went on improving himself, producing his best effort — a reverse three-and-a-half somersault — on his fourth attempt and winning the approval of the judges, who collectively awarded him an awe-inspiring 94.50 points.
In the end, he finished 56 points clear of his team-mate Reuben Ross, who made it 1-2 for Canada; which again is said to be the first instance in 80 years to have happened for that country in this sport. Grant Nel (Australia) was the bronze medal winner with a tally of 456.55 points.
The second event, the women's 10m platform, in comparison was a disappointing affair as all the 12 finalists remained erratic through all the five rounds of competition. The only moment of interest was when Malaysia's Pendelele Rinong Pamg produced a beauty of a dive in the last dive of the competition and took the gold medal away from Melissa Wu (Australia), who was in the lead until then. Pamg notched up a mind boggling 81.60 points off her final effort as she pushed Wu aside with a total of 371.05 points. Wu's tally was only 1.55 points behind.
S.P.Hrutika, much like her compatriot Hariprasad earlier, was virtually an also-ran, finishing 12th and last.
