NEW DELHI - Alexandre Despatie added to his medal haul at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, winning a third gold in as many days.
The 25-year-old diver from Laval, combined with Reuben Ross of Pilot Butte, Sask., to win the three-metre synchronized springboard title.
Despatie defended his three-metre springboard title on Monday and won the one-metre event Sunday.
Despatie now has won a Canadian record nine Commonwealth golds dating back to his first as a 13-year-old at the 1998 Games in Malaysia.
More Nigerians caught doping
Meanwhile, a second doping case involving a Nigerian runner has cropped up at the Games.
Samuel Okon, who was sixth in the 110-metre hurdles final last Friday, tested positive for the banned stimulant Methylhexaneamine, Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell said Tuesday.
"I again regret to inform you that we've had a second anti-doping violation," said Fennell, who has had to preside over the most trouble-plagued edition in Commonwealth Games history.
Female divers also champs
In other Canadian action, diver Jennifer Abel of Laval won gold on the one-metre springboard while teammate Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert was third.
Abel led from the second round on but still won a very close event with 301.75 points.
Sharleen Stratton of Australia was second at 299.15 and Heymans followed at 296.10.
"The one-metre is not an event we practice as much as the others so I'm super happy with my performance," said Abel. "I closely followed my coach's instructions today by making the necessary adjustments after each dive and keeping my concentration level high."
Despatie and Ross led most of the competition, but fell to second after the fifth round.
However they finished with near-perfect marks for synchronization on their inward dive, the most difficult on their list, to win gold with 430.35 points. Australia was second, followed by Malaysia.
"We told each other it's never over until it's over," said Despatie. "We knew we could do that last dive very well. On the fourth dive we were a bit off on the synchro and the individual quality wasn't there on the fifth."
Shooting, Rugby
In shooting, Dorothy Ludwig of Langley, B.C., and Calgary's Lynda Hare won bronze in women's team 10-metre air pistol.
In consolation rugby sevens play, Canada beat India 43-10 and Uganda 22-17 before losing to Papua New Guinea 17-10 in the Bowl final to finish eighth overall.
Unlike the issues that affected the preparations leading up to the Games, and those glitches and setbacks that have appeared since the opening on Oct. 3, the problem of doping is out of the control of the federation and the local organizers.
Methylhexaneamine is the same substance that was found in women's 100-metre champion Osayomi Oludamola's A sample last week. It was also found in about a dozen Indian athletes in recent months.
"We ourselves are concerned by the number of incidents that have cropped up with this same substance," Fennell said, noting that the Nigerian team was also investigating.
"We have already had discussions with the leadership of the Nigerian team, who are themselves very, very concerned about this matter," Fennell added. "We are satisfied that they are taking this very seriously."
The World Anti-Doping Agency recently loosened the classification of Methylhexaneamine for next year to the "specified stimulant" list, meaning athletes can get off with a warning for inadvertent use of the substance.
But that won't be in effect until 2011.
"Each year on the first of January, it becomes effective a new list," Fennell said. "We are operating on the 2010 list."
Because of the problems and issues that likely could have been avoided in the run-up to the event, media from around the world have often been critical of the Games in New Delhi. But organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi refused to be drawn into a discussion about reporting of the event.
"No comment," Kalmadi said before being angered when asked if his non-statement meant he was unhappy with the overseas perception of India. "I just said no comments. That doesn't mean anything at all."
In the stadiums and arenas around New Delhi, however, competition continued as usual.
New Zealand won another rugby sevens title, erasing a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat Australia 24-17 in the final.
England's 16-year-old world champion Tom Daley combined with Max Brick to win the men's 10-metre platform synchronized final with 439.65 points, almost 16 clear of Australia's Olympic 10-metre platform champion Matthew Mitcham and Ethan Warren.
"It's amazing. I've just got one more title to get before the end of my career and that is the Olympic gold," Daley said.
Winnipeg's Kevin Geyson and Edmonton's Eric Sehn finished third, but weren't awarded a medal because there were only four teams in the final.
One milestone was reached at the shooting venue Tuesday, and another is within range.
India earned a record 31st gold medal when Annu Raj Singh and Heena Sidhu won the women's 10-metre air pistol pairs event. The country's previous record of 30 golds was set at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Also, English shooter Mick Gault and teammate Iqbal Ubhi took bronze in the men's 25-metre standard pistol pairs to give Gault his 17th Commonwealth Games medal -- one fewer than the career record held by Australian shooter Phillip Adams.
Gault will have a chance to match the record on Wednesday in the standard pistol singles event.
"It's a competition for me," Gault said. "I just want to perform well tomorrow and if that results in a medal, that's all right."
-- With files from The Associated Press
