Alexandre Despatie

Alexandre Despatie has become renowned as one of the greatest divers in the world, as well as being an accomplished broadcaster. Having won world titles at both the one-metre and three-metre springboards, Despatie became the only driver to hold world champion titles in all three individual categories.

Having begun diving at the age of five in his own backyard, Despatie went on to dominate Canadian diving during his years of competition. Despatie won no less than 37 Canadian titles in his senior career, having been Canadian Champion nine times at junior level.

Although Despatie won a wealth of medals during his stellar diving career, he is perhaps best known for winning a gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games on the 10 metre platform, when only 13 years old. Despatie went on to win multiple medals at both the Commonwealth and Olympic levels, setting several world records in the process.

After a hugely successful career in the pool, Despatie announced his retirement in June, 2013, shortly afterwards being announced as the co-host of Breakfast Television’s Montreal edition. Since then, Despatie has enjoyed an esteemed career in broadcasting, before being inducted into the Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Despatie has been the subject of both feature films and a wide range of documentaries, and is probably the greatest diver in the history of Canadian sport.