It's strange what competitive athletes do.
Rowing world champion Oliver Zeidler, for example, has separated a room in the sauna of his Upper Bavarian home, which he heats to 32 degrees Celsius.
In front of the open door he lets the shower run for half an hour until he has reached 90 percent humidity.
Then he sits down on the ergometer in this laundry room and tortures himself.
The German water divers, on the other hand, start the day like vampires: They force themselves to have breakfast at half past two in the night.
Training at the base in Dresden starts at four o'clock - a splash into the fresh water is sure to act like a welcome wake-up call.
Lunch is at half past seven, so that the midday nap roughly coincides with the last quarter of an hour of unsportsmanlike late risers.
Ten o'clock training again, dinner one o'clock.
How so?
The answer is obvious: Zeidler simulates the climate at the Olympics in Tokyo, the water divers anticipate the time difference.
Seems a bit out of the way - but they just want to win medals.
And so surrender goes to a goal.