Michael Hixon compared himself to a pit bull in competition.
Sam Dorman tends to live in his own little world between dives.
They’re mental opposites that align perfectly on the diving board.
“It’s weird for us to get used to because you usually dive with people similar to your mental strengths,” Hixon said. “We’re very different, so it’s been interesting for us to try to face the challenges.”
The pair answered an early one, winning the U.S. Olympic Diving Trials after just two months of preparation.
They’ll make their Olympic debut at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the men’s synchronized three-meter springboard event.
“When we started off we realized there needed to be a lot of communication in the sense of ‘how do you compete.’ Not just do you synch up,” Dorman said in the post-trials press conference. “We had to talk to each other and say, ‘hey what do you do in meets? How do you work? Do we need to keep it simple? Do I need to get you hyped up? What makes you get all nervous and worked up? How can both of us work with each other so we keep each other’s heads level?’ I think that was the most important part of us doing synchro.”
Why, then, were they paired together?
Dive 109C.
It requires four and a half somersaults in the tuck position, a dizzying challenge to the laws of gravity.
Dorman, from Arizona via the University of Miami and Amherst’s Hixon, an Indiana Hoosier, are two of the few divers in the country that can perform it at a consistently high level.
“There’s been a lot of mixing and matching. One pairing we realized that had never been tested was Sam and Mike,” said Drew Johansen, Hixon’s coach at Indiana and Team USA. “No other two athletes in the country can do that dive as well. It made sense to have a look.”
Hixon has spent the last two years in Indiana with Johansen honing that particular dive with an eye toward Rio.
“No other (American) synchro team has been doing it,” Hixon said. “In terms of synchro it puts us back in the medal chances.”
Six weeks have passed since the trials. Hixon and Dorman have spent that time training in Indianapolis, Miami and Atlanta.
“We’ve gotten better and better since the trials, getting to know each other on the synchro level. We’ve known each other for a long time personally, we’ve been competing against each other for a long time,” Hixon said. “I’m thankful to be on the same team. He’s a hell of a diver and makes good things happen.”
Hixon has seen them competing with him and against him.
Sam Dorman dethroned Hixon as the men’s 3-meter springboard NCAA Champion in 2015. Hixon won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events in 2014 during his freshman season at Texas before transferring to Indiana.
That hasn’t harmed their relationship, though.
“Outside the pool he’s a really fun-loving guy,” Hixon said. “He’s really funny — hits it pretty hard with the dad jokes.”
Dorman is three years older than Hixon, who will also compete in the men’s individual 3-meter springboard next week, and calls him “Mikey.”
His mother trained for a marathon during Dorman’s Olympic preparation. They exchanged inspirational quotes while they were training. He maintains a smile and relentlessly positive outlook.
“Our strengths together match up better than our other synchro partners did. Obviously it worked out,” Dorman said of his partnership with Hixon. “If we can come this far in two months, the sky’s the limit for the Olympics.”
They’re chasing China, just like the rest of the diving world.
Defending world champions Qin Kai, a gold medalist London in 2012, and Cao Yuan are favored to take gold.
Sports Illustrated picked them first followed by Germany’s Stephan Feck and Patrick Hausding for silver and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Zakharov for bronze.
“China has been dominant in the event for the whole quad (four years between Olympics),” Johansen said. “The Russians are right there with a massive list of dives as well. The Mexicans are very strong. Only eight countries get that privilege (to compete at the Olympics in synchro), earned over the last year and a half. It’s anybody’s game in those synchronized events. They’re already the best of the best.”
Hixon knows what he and Dorman are up against.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Hixon said.