ear. The comeback has be

Alexandre Despaties attempt at the extremely difficult 4. Tress Way Jersey .5 forward somersault dive may have fallen a little short on Sunday, but the two-time Olympic silver medallist says he feels encouraged by his performance at the Montreal Canada Cup. "I am exactly where I want to be, I think, at this point," Despatie told CTVOlympics.ca after he finished second in the competition. "Today I did a little technical mistake at the come-out of the dive when I came out of the rotation, but you know, its no big deal." Despatie spent most of 2011 sidelined with tendinitis in his knee, and was only able to return to full-dive training early this year. The comeback has been complicated by the widespread implementation of a new, 3.8 difficulty dive: the forward-facing 4.5 somersault. The new dive, which athletes did not perform at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games where Despatie earned his second Olympic silver medal, is one of the toughest dives of the springboard competition. With its potential for racking up points, it is also expected to be a game changer at this summers Games in London.  In his attempt on Sunday, Despatie began the dive with strength, but exited his final rotation early for a sizeable splash as he entered the water. The miss earned the Laval., Que. veteran four 5.5 marks from the judges and caused him to drop of first place on the leader board. Even so, Despatie and those around him believe that he can bring the dive up to Olympic quality in time for London 2012. "You can always get a sense of where things stand based on how (Alex) feels at the end of the day, and this is among the most positive that Ive seen him after a competition that didnt go perfect," said Mitch Geller, chief technical officer at Diving Plongeon Canada, following the competition. "He sort of was of the mind that, You know what? It didnt go perfect but I feel it. I know Im just about there." Despatie scored a total of 497.20 for his list of six dives. While it was good enough for silver on Sunday, a similar score is unlikely to earn an Olympic medal in London. "He wasnt in any way peaking for this competition, so not at max strength, and you really sort of need that to easily put away that four and a half," Geller said. "But what we saw was that he doesnt really have a whole lot of trouble with the dive. Its got the potential we were hoping it would have." Despatie says he will continue training the dive, and he plans to use it in competition a few more times between now and the London Games. "I did some really good ones in training this week," he said. "I know weve got to keep working at it. Ill get more comfortable with the dive, more confident, and that was the great thing about this week. Now we know where were at, we know the work were doing is really going in the right direction and thats what matters. Thats whats most important." Sean Taylor Gold Jersey . San Antonio was out of energy and emotion, which is usually when coach Gregg Popovich turns to Manu Ginobili for a boost. Ginobili is no longer the only player giving the Spurs a jolt of enthusiasm and showmanship off the bench. Jason Hatcher Red Jersey . Barcelona says Pique tore a muscle in his right leg. The Spain international will miss Spanish league games against Almeria and Valladolid, but should be back for the Champions league match against Manchester City on March 12. KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia -- Marit Bjoergen has won her sixth Olympic gold by leading a Norwegian sweep in the womens 30-kilometre cross-country ski race at the Sochi Games. The Norwegian women finally displayed their dominance of the sport on Sunday, as Bjoergen pulled away from Therese Johaug heading into the stadium and sprinted alone to win her third gold of the Sochi Olympics. She also won three gold medals in Vancouver. Johaug took silver and Kristin Stoermer Steira was third. The three Norwegiians pulled away after the 10-kilometre mark and then built a gap of more than a minute on the rest of the field. Charley Taylor Red Jersey. Kerttu Niskanen of Finland was fourth, more than a minute behind. Brittany Webster of Caledon, Ont., was the top Canadian, finishing 46th in one hour 21 minutes and 5.5 seconds. Whitehorses Emily Nishikawa was 47th in 1:21:38.6, followed by Amanda Ammar of Onoway, Alta., who placed 49th in 1:22:03.7 and Heidi Widmer of Banff, Alta., who was 52nd in 1:24:11.5. ' ' '