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At 37, our man from Havana finally to get feet wet in Olympic diving
Dave Stubbs, The Gazette
Published: Monday, August 11, 2008
BEIJING - Arturo Miranda is crossing his fingers and touching wood, not yet entirely convinced that he's finally going to compete in the Olympic Games.
Miranda will dive Wednesday (1:30 a.m., CBC) in the three-metre synchronized event with fellow Canadian Alexandre Despatie, eager to take part in what will be his first and last Olympics.
The 37-year-old native of Havana, the oldest diver from any nation in Beijing, was competing a year before Despatie was born.
Now, after 30 years in the sport and 16 years since he first knocked on the Olympic door, Miranda is only days from the most important six dives of his life.
He and Despatie, international medallists every time they've pooled their talents, are less than dark horses to visit the Beijing podium.
"That's realistic," Miranda said Saturday after a workout at the Water Cube. "We've been on the podium of every competition we've done, so we're not freaking out or going too crazy.
"I'm going to be really nervous, but very eager. We know we can do well."
If the Montrealer feels snake-bitten in the Olympic arena, he has the fang marks to prove it. Three times he's been within view of the Games; three times the chance has slithered away.
There was Barcelona in 1992, when he qualified for the Cuban team, but stayed home when money was tight and he wasn't considered a strong enough medal contender.
Miranda quit the sport in 1993 and dived professionally to earn a few pesos, then came to Canada in '95. He was ineligible to compete for his adopted home in Atlanta the following year, and even with his citizenship in hand at Sydney in 2000, the International Olympic Committee would not clear him to compete when Cuba refused his release, not enough time having elapsed since he quit his homeland.
And then Miranda placed third in the Canadian trials for Athens in 2004, missing the squad by a single spot.
His personal life made ugly headlines the following year when he was suspended for six months by Diving Canada for an alleged violation of the sport's code of conduct. Miranda appealed, the ban was lifted and he subsequently was cleared by a Canadian sports-resolution dispute body.
He never was legally charged.
Finally, Miranda qualified with Despatie for this Olympics in the synchro event, guaranteed a trip to the event he's worked toward his entire diving life. And then he watched incredulously when his partner broke his foot in April and was questionable for Beijing.
"I knew Alex was going to be ready," Miranda said, perhaps even believing it. "It was a little frustrating, a setback to our preparation, but we worked on stuff we couldn't when we were competing all the time.
"If Alex had been injured any later, it would have been a disaster."
Miranda said he's never had anything more serious than a hamstring strain through his three-decade career. Again, he touches wood.
He comes from strong stock. His father, Arturo, was a wrestler in Cuba, where he still lives; his mother, Marixa, was a national-calibre diver who today resides in Toronto.
He and Despatie are more than partners on the board, they're great friends. And they're nicely suited to each other as athletes in their synchronized event.
"The Cuban/Canadian style is more one of being smooth and powerful than just quick," Miranda said. "Our styles and physical similarities are not bad. I've been diving so long, I can imitate a guy."
He laughs.
"So I've adapted to Alex, not him to me. Come on, he's the world champion."
Both divers are eager to compete in what should be a wild venue. The Cube seats 17,000 and every chair will be filled, the vast majority by knowledgeable, partisan Chinese diving fans who still appreciate a good effort no matter its flag.
Miranda will take a step back after Beijing and expects to get more serious with his coaching. But first comes his Olympics, a contest that could blow the doors off the record book. Judges might react to the energy of the spectators with generous, historic marks.
"The scores are going to be high," Miranda said. "The crowd likes that, and everybody wants to see the big scores. I think we'll see records set here."
Despatie relishes the opportunity to dive alongside his old, Olympic-deprived friend, seeing their potential as a fine source of motivation.
And if it leads to a medal?
"It would mean the world to me," Despatie said. "I've been with Arturo on his Olympic journey only since 2000. He's wanted all this time to dive and now he has the chance. We have the potential to (win a medal) in his first and last Olympics."
For Miranda, the contest won't come soon enough.
"I'm ready," he said. "I was ready yesterday."
Note: China's Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia opened the diving competition yesterday by winning the women's three-metre synchro event. The pair's score of 343.50 points distanced Russia's Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdnyakova (silver) by 19.89 and Germany's Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer (bronze) by 24.60. Canada had no entry. The men's 10-metre synchro (no Canadians) will be held today. Canada's Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion will dive in the women's 10-metre synchro event tomorrow (1:30 a.m., CBC).
Dave Stubbs of The Gazette is in Beijing as part of the Canwest News Service Olympic Team
dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com |
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