> Diver Matthew Mitcham, Scantily Clad on Canvas Advocate.com
> Swimmer’s Gift Guide: The Grab Bag Suit the17thman
> Determining Goal Pace SwImtelligence
> When I’m Tired I Want To ___ When I Should Be ___ Tim Morehouse
> Recruit Workshop Scheduled For Ohio State CollegeSwimming.com
> A Mako shark about to have a really bad day at the office! SCAQ Blog
> Alex Despatie Supports Synchronized Swimming Alex’s Blog
> Running Sucks Crazy Swim Dad

Tony Care, of CBCSports.ca, recently wrote an article called Stepping Up which posed the question: Can Canadian divers other than Despatie and Heymans deliver in Rome?

In Beijing, Alex Despatie and

At the final Grand Prix of Diving stop in Madrid last weekend, Alex Despatie claimed the silver medal in 3-meter competition after only 3 weeks of serious training. Despatie had taken almost 10 months off–not competing since the Beijing Olympics–to recover from back and knee injuries (source).

With the world aquatic championships less than two months away, Despatie feels he has enough time to be at peak performance for the worlds.

“I now have a clear road ahead to put in the hours and amount of training I need to get back to the level I was at last year for the Olympics,” he said. “Physically I feel great right now. I wasn’t too nervous today, I was just anxious to compete.” (source)

Shixin Li of China won the gold medal in the men’s 3-meter with 504.50 points. Despatie made silver with 473.10 and Javier Illana of Spain placed third with 446.80 (source).

On Alex Despatie’s Blog, he writes: “Because off my injuries, I did not get to train as much as I would have liked before this competition. In this context, I am very happy with my performance.”

> Judge allows swimsuit suit to go to trial via Examiner.com
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> Alex Despatie: McHappy Day was a great success from Alex’s Blog
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> Yoni Gottesman drowning lawsuit and surveillance video negligence via Aquatics International

While I was reading an old interview with British diver-turned-movie-star Jason Statham (Snatch, The Italian Job), I was thinking about swimmers and divers pursuing acting careers. Statham was on the British National Diving Squad for 12 years, and placed 12th in tower at the World Championships in 1992 before his first major movie role (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) in 1998.

Alex Despatie, the Canadian diver, has also made an appearance on the big screen in the 2007 teen romantic-comedy

This tattoo of Alexandre Despatie wasn’t hard to find, because it’s safely sitting on my own forearm. It looks a little distorted because it wraps around the side–a minor problem when putting a 2-dimensional picture on a 3-D human body.

I know, this tattoo just screams “stalker,” which is a possible reason for why Alex hasn’t accepted my friend request on Facebook.