Michael Hixon (born July 16, 1994) is an American diver. He is a two-time Olympic medalist, having won the silver medal with

Sam Dorman Sam Dorman (born August 30, 1991) is a retired American diver. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics where he, along with his diving partner Michael Hixon, won a silver medal in the 3-meter springboard synchro event. Dorman att ...

in the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

and the silver medal with Andrew Capobianco at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in the same event.

Early life and education

Hixon was born on July 16, 1994, in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

, to Mandy and David Hixon. He has an older brother, Matthew. Hixon's parents have both coached in American

collegiate sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

. His father was the head coach for the men's basketball team at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

. His mother, an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n diver at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, helped foster his interest in diving after he joined her at a diving practice while she was a diving coach at Amherst College. Soon after, she became his personal coach, and he began entering competitions two years later. Growing up, Hixon was also involved in basketball, football, and lacrosse, but after foregoing them in high school, he committed to diving full-time. He graduated from Amherst Regional High School in 2013. In 2013, he enrolled at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, but in July 2014, he was granted a release by the university, after which he transferred to

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

in Bloomington, citing desire for a program that would be a better fit. Hixon enrolled at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Ross School of Business The Stephen M. Ross School of Business, also known as Michigan Ross, is the business school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1924, the school is ranked among the best business schools i ...

in 2020 for his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(MBA). To train for the

, he agreed to become a volunteer assistant coach for the

Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving The Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving program has both a men's and women's team. The University of Michigan swimming program is one of the most highly respected college swimming programs in the country. The men's and women's teams, which ha ...

team in order to use the pool facilities during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Diving career

2007–2010: Junior championships

Hixon began diving at the national level when he was 12 and won the 1-meter competition at the national championships three years running. Hixon is a six-time junior U.S. champion, and won two bronze medals, in the 1 meter and 3 meter events, at the 2009 Junior Pan-American Diving Championships in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. He subsequently paired with

Kristian Ipsen Kristian Ipsen (born October 20, 1992) is an American diver, who has been diving competitively since 1998. Diving alongside Troy Dumais, they took the silver medal in the synchronized 3 meter springboard at the 2009 World Aquatics Championshi ...

to win a silver at the 2010 FINA World Junior Diving Championships in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, in the 3 meter synchronized springboard event, but only managed a tenth-place finish in the 3 meter solo event.

2010 Summer Youth Olympics

Hixon won in the 3 meter springboard event at a national selection camp and qualified for Youth Olympic trials in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where he won a bronze medal and thus secured a spot to represent the United States at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in the 3 meter springboard event. The event in the first-ever Youth Olympics in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

consisted of a 15-man preliminary round and an eight-man final round. After the ten-dive preliminary round, Hixon carried over enough points into the final to begin the final round in third. Although he was sixth after his first dive in the final and fourth heading into his final dive, a poor dive by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Giovanni Tocci Giovanni Tocci (born 31 August 1994) is an Italian diver. He competed in the men's synchronized 3 metre springboard at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he and Andrea Chiarabini finished 6th out of 8 teams. At the 2018 European Championships ...

allowed Hixon to claim bronze on his final dive, finishing with a score of 554.65 points behind Qiu Bo of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Oleksandr Bondar Oleksandr Mykolayovych Bondar is a Ukrainian politician, People's Deputy of Ukraine, Member of the parliamentary fraction of OUR UKRAINE - People's Self-Defence. Bondar is a member of Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor". Biography Oleksandr B ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

2011

At the 2011 US National Championships, Hixon captured the senior men 1-meter springboard title at the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

's Spieker Aquatics Center in Los Angeles.

2013

Hixon won silver in the 3-meter synchro with Darian Schmidt at the 2013 AT&T National Diving Championships. Hixon qualified for his first senior international competition, the

2013 World Aquatics Championships The 15th FINA World Championships ( ca, Campionat Mundial de Natació de 2013, es, Campeonato Mundial de Natación de 2013) were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, with Troy Dumais, and finished fifth in the men's 3-meter synchronized event.

2014

Hixon won the

NCAA Division I men's swimming and diving championships The NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships are annual college championship events in the United States. The meets take place in a 25-yard pool, except for the Division I meets in 2000 and 2004 which were swum in a 25-meter competi ...

titles on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events in 2014.

2015

In the

2015 World Aquatics Championships The 16th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships (russian: Чемпионат мира по водным видам спорта 2015), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia host ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, Hixon won bronze in the men's 1-meter dive.

2016

Hixon won the 1-meter springboard at the 2016 USA Diving Winter National Championship.

Summer Olympics

Hixon qualified for and represented the United States in both the 3-meter synchronized and men's individual 3-meter springboard events at the

in Rio. He teamed up with

on the 3-metre synchro only after team changes in March 2016, but won the U.S. trials in their first competition together in June 2016. In the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event, Hixon along with his diving partner

placed second and won the silver medal with a score of 450.21, behind

Jack Laugher Jack David Laugher ( ; born 30 January 1995) is a British diver competing for Great Britain and England. A specialist on springboard, he competes in individual springboard events, and in synchronised events with Chris Mears, Daniel Goodfello ...

and Chris Mears of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

(454.32) and ahead of the Chinese pair Qin Kai and Cao Yuan (443.70). In the men's individual 3-meter springboard event, he finished 10th, while his former 3-meter synchro partner Kristian Ipsen placed fifth in the same event.

2019

Hixon and new partner Andrew Capobianco attended the

2019 World Aquatics Championships The 2019 World Aquatics Championships were the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships, held in Gwangju, South Korea from 12 to 28 July 2019. The city had previously hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade aquatics events in the same venues.

and placed eighth after the final round of the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event, totaling 388.08.

2021

Hixon understood that his score at the 2019 World Championships had not been high enough for him and Capobianco to automatically qualify for the Olympics, and he continued training in 2020 in preparation for trials, in spite of the narrowing chances that he would be able to attend the Olympics amid the COVID-19 pandemic when crucial meets had become postponed or cancelled. However, Hixon and Capobianco were unexpectedly chosen to represent the United States at the

2021 FINA Diving World Cup The 2021 FINA Diving World Cup was scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan, from 21 to 26 April 2020. It was to be the 22nd edition of the biennial diving competition, and the first time this specific FINA event was to be held in Tokyo and Japan ...

after fellow American pair

David Boudia David Alasdair Boudia (; born April 24, 1989) is an American diver. He won the gold medal in the 10 metre platform diving competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the bronze medal in the same event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He also won ...

and

Steele Johnson Steele Alexander Johnson (born June 16, 1996) is an Olympic silver medal-winning American diver. He has won multiple national titles at both the junior and college levels. Johnson made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Games, where he won a si ...

abruptly pulled out eight days prior to the start of the competition. For the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event, Hixon and Capobianco scored a total of 414.18, which landed them in fourth place and ensured their spot at the Olympics.

Summer Olympics

In June 2021, Hixon and Capobianco placed first in the United States Olympics diving trials for the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event with a score of 1289.37. In the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard event, Hixon and Capobianco placed second and won the silver medal with a final score of 444.36, behind Wang Zongyuan and

Xie Siyi Xie Siyi (; born 28 March 1996) is a Chinese diver. He has won four gold medals at the World Championships and two Olympic gold medals. Career Xie's previous main event was 10m platform and his partner was Chen Aisen. However, due to a seriou ...

(467.82), and ahead of

Patrick Hausding Patrick Hausding (born 9 March 1989) is a German diver. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with his teammate Lars Rüdiger, Hausding won a bronze medal in the men's synchronized 3 metre springboard competition. However, he did not repeat hi ...

and

Lars Rüdiger Lars Rüdiger (born 17 April 1996) is a German diver. With his partner Patrick Hausding, he won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the Men's synchronized 3 metre springboard competition. He also won a bronze medal in the 3 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(404.73). They stood in fifth place after performing their first two dives, and then placed second behind leaders Wang and Xie after the next two dives. Their fifth of the sixth dives were the best of the round, and their overall score of the six dives ultimately placed them second.

Personal life

As of July 2021, Hixon has been in a relationship with Canadian swimmer

Kennedy Goss Kennedy Goss (born August 19, 1996) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Goss won 7 medals at the 2013 Canada Games, including 5 gold. In 2016, she was named to Canada's Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics as part of the 4x200 metre freestyl ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hixon, Michael Living people 1994 births American male divers Divers at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving Olympic silver medalists for the United States in diving Sportspeople from Amherst, Massachusetts Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Divers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Texas Longhorns men's divers Indiana Hoosiers men's divers Pan American Games medalists in diving Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Divers at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Olympic divers for the United States Divers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in diving Amherst Regional High School (Massachusetts) alumni 21st-century American people