Michael Hixon and Sam Dorman became synchronized three-meter springboard partners, more or less, by accident.

Wednesday, they’ll compete together in Rio chasing Olympic Medals.

“It’s actually crazy how fast it all happened,” Hixon said. “It all came together so late.”

Up until a few months ago, Hixon and Dorman had never dove together. Heck, they hardly knew each other.

The U.S. Olympic Diving performance director held a camp four months ago and wanted to see all five Olympic hopefuls on hand work together. At the time, Dorman, a 24-year-old Miami (Florida) graduate, was diving alongside Kristian Ipsen while Hixon, a 22-year-old redshirt junior at Indiana, was diving with IU alum Darian Schmidt.

After two days of dives, it was decided that Hixon and Dorman would be better off working together. A new partnership was formed only two months before the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis.

“To say we had to learn each other quickly is an understatement,” Dorman said.

Synchronized diving is all about mirroring. Hixon and Dorman are responsible for matching every detail of the other's. One man's perfect dive can be derailed by another's slightest mistake.

There are teams they dive against that have been working together for years, sometimes competing in multiple world championships as a a pair.

Hixon and Dorman had a few months.

“Generally, it is pretty difficult,” Hixon said. “We synched up very quickly, though. We dive similarly, and the four different dives we do fit our strengths. For that, figuring out timing wasn’t bad at all. Mostly for us, it was about communication.”

There aren't many similarities in Hixon and Dorman's preparation. That much is a challenge in it of itself.

Dorman, a four-time national team member who owns four synchronized three-meter national titles, likes everything about his dives to be calm. He listens to music as he competes, normally the same song over and over again so that he’s at peace with himself.

Hixon, a six-time national team member and NCAA champion in both the one-meter and three-meter, likes to get excited. He wants to dive with energy and passion that would normally make Dorman uncomfortable.

They needed to find a middle ground.

“We had a practice one day and hammered everything out,” Dorman said. “Like, ‘Okay, this is how we’re going to compete together. This is what we need to do.’ We came up with a plan and followed it from the start.”

That plan was what Hixon likes to call “divide and conquer.”

There was no way Hixon was going to calm himself down. He just doesn’t dive that way. Much the same, Dorman wasn’t going to get excited before his dives. It would just throw him off.

They agreed the best strategy was to nearly pretend they were diving on their own. They worked on their count together and use many of the same strategies synchronized partners around the world utilize, but they mostly consider themselves individual divers making two separate dives that just happen to come at the same time.

“Divide and conquer,” Hixon said. “We come together on the boards and do our own thing. We both hit our dives. That’s our job. That’s how you have success.”

Competing together for the first time back in June, the duo clinched a spot on the U.S. Olympic roster by winning the synchronized three-meter springboard in Indianapolis. They’ll take the same dives that won there with them to Rio.

Later in the games, Hixon will compete as an individual in the three-meter springboard. He has a legitimate shot at medaling there too after finishing second in U.S. qualifying.

He isn't worried about that now, though. His schedule gives him a few days to reset after taking care of his dives alongside his new partner Dorman.

The two divers might not have known each other very long. But if they hit their dives right, they’ll go down in history together.

“Sam and I have a job to do,” Hixon said. “We’re in this one together. It’s been working so far, and we want it to keep working.”