something is missing from the sentence

Question

"Four years later, at the age of 37, he won his fifth gold medal in Sydney, Australia." that is ok.
This despite being a diabetic whose medical problems would have been enough for an ordinary mortal let alone a top sportsman.

Somehow the second sentence does not seem sound to me.
Would you help me?

This is the fact despite... would be ok to me.
(D)espite is preceded by the main clause: (t)his. A verb is missing.

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

"This despite being"
is idiomatic
(make a search for it at Yahoo, etc)
yours isn't.

Of course, the original is an ellipsis for:
"This (happened/took place/occured) despite (his) being"

Pastsimple · Answer

I agree with Marius. The original sentence sounds completely OK to me. Interestingly enough, the structure of the sentence would be very similar in my mother tongue.

This is the fact despite... I'd hesitate to call this substitution correct at all:

This is the fact despite being a diabetic whose medical problems would have been enough for an ordinary mortal let alone a top sportsman.

It simply doesn't sound OK to me.

It would sound better with his inserted between despite and being, yet I'd still hesitate to call it natural:

This is the fact despite his being a diabetic whose medical problems would have been enough for an ordinary mortal let alone a top sportsman.

Let a native speaker comment on it.

Inchoateknowledge · Answer

Thanks PS and MH.

This elliptical form I am unfamiliar with.

But I live and learn.

Pastsimple · Answer

InchoateknowledgeBut I live and learn.

So do we.

something is missing from the sentence

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