Despatie, Ross repeat as individuals for London 2012
Posted February 21, 2012 2:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Jennifer Lukas, CTVOlympics.ca Staff LONDON, England — Less than 24 hours after Canada’s top springboard divers qualified for the London 2012 Olympic Games in the synchronized event, Alexandre Despatie and Reuben Ross repeated the feat as individuals. Despatie, of Laval, Que., finished eighth in the preliminary round of the three-metre springboard at the FINA Diving World Cup. Ross, of Regina, Sask., finished 11th. Divers in the top-18 advanced to Wednesday’s semi-final and earned a maximum of two Olympic berths for their respective nations ahead of the Games. With the finish, Despatie secured a chance at a third Olympic medal in his specialty discipline. The 26-year-old earned three-metre silver at both the 2004 and 2008 Games. The Olympic qualification process requires divers to earn berths on behalf of their respective nations rather than as individuals. Despatie has already earned a national three-metre nomination by virtue of past finishes, but Ross will need to earn his place on the Olympic team at Diving Canada’s Olympic selection trials, scheduled for May. Earlier Tuesday, Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., qualified for the evening final in the individual 10-metre platform, finishing fifth in the semi. Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal just missed the qualification mark in 13th place. Canada has already qualified the maximum number of Olympic berths in the women’s individual platform event, but the divers are preparing to compete for their first and only available berth in the synchronized 10-metre platform competition, beginning Wednesday. Canada’s top divers are competing this week in the first event to be held in London’s 2012 Olympic venue: the Aquatics Centre in Olympic Park. More to follow… Jennifer Lukas is the Digital lead Aquatics producer for CTVOlympics.ca. She is in London this week, reporting on the FINA Diving World Cup and Olympic test event from the Aquatics Centre in Olympic Park. Follow her updates on Twitter at @JenniferLukas and join in the conversation at @CTVOlympics.
