Hoosiers win silver on 3M springboard
TOKYO – As they stepped onto the podium to collect their silver medals Wednesday, Andrew Capobianco and Michael Hixon raised their arms above their heads. They turned left, then right.
Even on the medal stand, they were perfectly in sync.
“We talked about that beforehand,” Hixon said. “Just to make sure we looked good.”
It was a fitting end to an impressive afternoon for the two Indiana Hoosiers, who won silver in the men’s synchronized 3-meter springboard at the Tokyo Olympics with a score of 444.36. They finished well behind China, which took gold, but also well ahead of the bronze medal-winners, Germany.
It is the second consecutive Olympics in which the U.S. has won silver in the event, and the second medal for Hixon, who partnered with Sam Dorman, who has since retired.
“I’m so proud of him, the way we performed as a team, the way we came together,” said Hixon, the veteran of the duo. “Yeah, I couldn’t be happier right now.”
Hixon asked Capobianco to be his new partner in 2018, after Dorman retired. It was a sensible partnership, given that they were both at Indiana. The reigning Olympic medalist challenged Capobianco, then just a freshman, to meet the standard he set. And he did.
“He worked his butt off, and he became one of the best synchro divers in the world,” Hixon said.
Capobianco said it helped to have “the best diver in the country in your pool every day.”
“I think a lot of it was just having someone to look up to and almost chase in practice a little bit,” he said.
Hixon said they picked and began to practice the dives they performed Wednesday roughly two years ago. He said he tends to struggle with the fourth dive – a complicated combination of somersaults and twists – while Capobianco has typically had trouble with dive No. 5, a series of somersaults. They nailed both, and knew they were in a good spot.
“It just set us up really well for the last round,” Capobianco said.
When their path to silver became clear, television cameras caught Hixon kissing the diving tower, which he described as a gesture of thanks after what “felt like the last dive ever, maybe.” He didn’t commit to retiring, but acknowledged it’s something he’ll think about, which would leave Capobianco looking for a new partner just as Hixon was three years ago. Did he have any tips for the search?
“We’ll see, we’ll see,” Hixon said of a potential retirement. “But he doesn’t need my help. He’ll be alright.”