Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., and Guo Jingjing of China will be honoured this Friday at the International Swimming Hall of Fame awards.

They will be the first recipients of the Duraflex International World Diver Award, presented every four years to the top male and female divers over that period.

Despatie, 21, won the world title in the men's 10-metre at the 2003 world championships in Barcelona, a silver medal in the three-metre at the 2004 Athens Olympics and two gold medals at the 2005 world championships in Montreal.

He also won three gold and a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games last year in Melbourne. Despatie returned to win a silver medal in the three-metre at the 2007 world championships last March.

"It's a big honour for me to get that kind of recognition for my efforts over the past four years," Despatie said. "And to be the first recipient with Guo Jingjing shows that this is a big award."

Guo dominated the women's three-metre springboard the past four years, winning every world title since 2003 in both individual and synchro.

Guo also won two gold medals at the Athens Games.