Competitors are only seen for a few seconds at a time on a diving board.
So Australia's James Connor reckons he may as well look his best.
And besides, if it is good enough for Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham, the 22-year-old reckons it's good enough for him.
Dual Olympian Connor admitted he copped flak for the amount of time it took him to adjust his hair before dives after qualifying for Thursday night's 3m springboard final.
But Connor is simply taking a leaf out of Mitcham's winning playbook.
Assistant coach Chava Sobrino told Connor that once he saw Mitcham make sure his hair looked its best before his now famous final dive in Beijing, he was convinced an historic Olympic gold was his.
"Chava said the moment Matthew fixed his hair (in Beijing) he knew he was going to be great," Connor said..
"So I just thought 'you know Mitcham was pretty good so maybe that is the secret'.
"But I have a long way to go before I am in his calibre."
Back in Beijing, Mitcham left his best form - and look - until last in the 10m platform, notching what was the highest single dive score in Olympic history to secure Australia's first Games diving gold since 1924.
The approach seems to be working for Connor.
He secured 1m springboard silver on the Gold Coast on Wednesday and now has his eyes set on Thursday night's 3m final - and maybe a mirror.
Connor finished eighth with 389.55 points after the 3m preliminary round to comfortably move through to the 12-strong final.
Australia's Games rookie Matthew Carter (436.25) was second behind top qualifier, Canada's Philippe Gagne.
Australia's Kurtin Mathews missed the final.
Australian Associated Press
