Canadian divers dent Chinese dominance at worlds

MONTREAL (CP) - Canadian divers had their best world championships ever - three gold medals and one bronze - and banged a small dent in Chinese dominance of the sport.
Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., was the star, winning gold in the one-metre and three-metre springboard events before full houses of adoring hometown fans.

Blythe Hartley of North Vancouver added gold on the women's one-metre board and a surprise bronze came in synchronized diving from teenagers Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal and Roseline Filion of Laval.

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"Hopefully, with the results Canada is having at these worlds, it motivates kids not necessarily to get into diving, but to get into sports," said Despatie, 20. "You see how good it is to compete, to have fun, to do well in front of a home crowd.

"Maybe it will motivate kids to go out and do something."

Canada's previous best was three medals at the 2003 world championships in Barcelona.

Eight days of diving competition ended Sunday with Jingjing Guo and Ting Li of China winning the women's three-metre synchronized diving competition. Guo had won the three-metre individual event on Friday and has won both events at three straight world championships and the 2004 Olympics.

Martha Dale of Edmonton and Thunder Bay, Ont. native Mandy Moran were seventh.

Russia's Dmitry Dobroskok and Gleb Galperin won the men's 10-metre synchro event, while Peter Waterfield and Leon Taylor gave Britain its first ever world championship medal, a bronze. Wegadesk Gorup-Paul and Riley McCormick of Victoria finished 11th.

As has been the case in the last 12 years, the Chinese took the lion's share of medals - 12 in all, including five gold - matching their medal haul in 2003. China took at least one medal in all 10 diving events.

But their domination was not complete.

At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, China won six of eight gold medals and it has won 19 of 28 golds over the last three Olympics.

Aside from the Canadians and Russian synchro pair, Laura Wilkinson of the United States took gold on the women's 10-metre tower, the event that saw defending champion Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., crash to fourth place.

"I don't think the Chinese were as unbeatable here," said Annie Pelletier, a diving bronze medallist at the 1996 Olympics who worked on the French television broadcasts. "I don't know if it was because it was an outdoor competition, but they didn't seem as consistent or as focused as before.

"And I've seen them way more fit than they were here. Is it because they're feeling more and more pressure? Are the coaches pushing them not to win, but to not lose? There's a difference. It seems they have way more pressure and I wonder if they can handle that."

The Chinese, whose stated goal at the championships was to begin building a team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, had a mix of very young divers - including 14-year-olds Tong Jia and Pei Lin Yuan in synchronized diving - and veterans.

China has a massive diving program in which young children are identified for talent and placed in national training centres to develop, a system that would be impossible to implement in a modern democracy.

But Canada showed their armour can be pierced, at least in some events.

Pelletier said Canada was "the No. 1 country that can shuffle the cards (play the spoiler)."

"The difference between our program and China's is volume," added Despatie. "They have hundreds of thousands of kids diving so they have someone coming up at any time.

"Of course, we need athletes that are willing to work hard and love the sport and do anything for it. That's the way I am. Diving is my life and I give all my energy to it."

That was evident at the spectacular outdoor venue at Ile Ste-Helene.

Despatie was honorary spokesman for a troubled championship that had been taken away and then given back to Montreal within a month last winter. He was also recovering from a back injury that prevented him from entering his best event - the 10-metre platform.

But the five-foot-five acrobat put in two dominating performances, setting record point totals in both springboard events. He also boosted hitherto public interest so that by the end of the first week, grandstands were packed for more than just diving events.

Perhaps the effect of having the world championships on Canadian soil was best expressed by Moran when asked what she will remember most from the event.

"Just standing up on the board when everybody's cheering for you," she said. "Ten dives today that happened. I'll never forget that."

Canada also gave some young divers their first taste of world class action, including Filion, Benfeito and McCormick, who at 13 was the youngest athlete in any sport at the championships.

Canada's two top diving clubs - CAMO in Montreal and Boardworks in Victoria - also have some other young talent that may be ready to shine by 2008.

And when the Canadians reach Beijing, Despatie will only be 23.

"Hopefully, our program keeps growing and we continue to have these results at the international level," he said.

© The Canadian Press, 2005