Kornacki: All in the Olympic Family, Part II
6/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field, Features, Olympics
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Jeff Porter will run in the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials with hopes of qualifying for a second consecutive Olympic team berth, and his late father, John, will be chasing that dream once again with him in a clear and definite spirit.
His wife, Tiffany (Ofili) Porter, will be looking to repeat as an Olympian, too, but for Great Britain. Her sister, Cindy Ofili, will join her in that same pursuit of reaching the Rio de Janeiro Games in Brazil in August.
Jeff said this would be an unprecedented achievement -- a husband, wife and sister all reaching the Olympics in basically the same event. Jeff runs the 110-meter hurdles, while Tiffany and Cindy are in the 100-meter hurdles.
They've all won NCAA individual championships for the University of Michigan during standout collegiate careers and now run for their respective countries.
Tiffany and Cindy were born in the U.S., but their parents, Felix (Nigeria) and Lillian (Great Britain), came from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The sisters have citizenship in three countries, but both chose to compete for their mother's homeland.
"I've always been proud of my multi-national background," said Tiffany. "It's part of my identity and something I cherish. Great Britain offers the best situation for me to flourish because they support their athletes and give you what you need to be successful. It's been a great decision for me."
Cindy said, "I also chose Great Britain because of the support they give athletes, and also the fact that my sister's been through it and spoke very highly of it. She advised me on it, and doing this was the best decision I could've made last year. I'm so happy to represent Great Britain."
Tiffany qualified first for the 2012 London Olympics and surprised Jeff by coming to his trials in Eugene, Oregon.
"It was special," he said. "I was the underdog of underdogs to make the Olympic team. I didn't know Tiffany was coming to my trials in Eugene, right after her trials in Europe. The second day I was there, I heard a knock on my door, and thought, 'Who is this? I don't know anybody here, and I didn't order anything.'
"It was Tiffany, and she was there when I made the team! She showed up the night before my preliminary heat. Talk about pressure, right?"
Jeff earned the right to make the U.S. team by running a personal-best 13.08 seconds in the finals to get the third and final spot on the U.S. team in the 110 hurdles. He also was inspired by thoughts of his father, who saw his son for the last time at the 2008 Olympic trials on that same Hayward Field track in Eugene.
He didn't qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games but made it four years later, and Jeff said participating in the same Olympics with his wife in London was hard to comprehend.
"It was just surreal having your wife in the same Olympic Village," said Jeff. "They didn't allow us to stay together, because I'm American and she's British, but being able to have that comfort in the village, walking around together, we went everywhere together. We had such a great time."
Tiffany said, "That was a great time. But to be honest with you, I describe my experience in the London Olympics as 'bittersweet.' I didn't go into it healthy. I had a back injury, and so it prevented me from fully enjoying and embracing the whole experience.
"But this time around, I'm healthy, and I'm looking forward to going into it with a different mindset, and hopefully a different outcome as well. If Jeff can be there and my sister can be there, too, I don't see how anything could be better than that."
Jeff laughed about walking out of the "Beats by Dre" house in the Olympic Village four years ago "with about 10 free headsets," enough to cover all family members.
"The headsets had Brazilian flags on them," said Jeff. "So, I said, 'Guess where we're going to go? Rio, huh?' That might have been an omen at that point."
Now, with the Olympic trials days away for the sisters and less than three weeks away for Jeff, their purpose for the past four years is about to reach the ultimate challenges of qualifying for and hopefully competing on the biggest stage in sports.
What is the benefit of having been there before?
"I believe experience is the best teacher," said Tiffany. "When you've done something before, you know what to expect, what to avoid and how to mentally prepare yourself to compete in the biggest meet of your life.
"And I've learned that it's important to look at it as just another meet. God-willing, if I'm healthy, I think I will be able to put it together when it matters most. We're both still here, chugging away, trying to achieve another dream four years later. If Jeff stays healthy, he has a really good chance at making that team again."
Jeff noted that he finds it difficult to watch Tiffany and Cindy compete because he gets "anxious" and feels a sense of "helplessness" after helping them prepare. He finds watching the sisters in the same race difficult to deal with and will do that again for their Olympic Trials for three days beginning Friday (June 24) in Birmingham, England.
"I told Warde Manuel about this -- my dilemma coming up at the end of June," Jeff said, referring to the Michigan athletic director who also competed in track and field. "He said, 'Take it from a wise man. You always go with the one you have to go home to.' I said, 'Alright! I got it.'"
Jeff laughed recalling that conversation. He'll be training for his own Olympic trials, July 8-9, in Eugene and won't be able to attend their qualifying races. He'll watch on TV instead, partaking in what he says will be a "nerve-wracking" experience. The sisters won't be able to attend his Olympic trials because they'll be competing in European championships.
The Ofilis, who are from Ypsilanti, right next door to Ann Arbor, are an extremely athletic family.
Their father, Felix, ran the 400-meter race in track and played soccer at a university in Nigeria. Their brothers, Alex (Michigan) and Frank (Toledo), played college football a dozen years ago. Alex played in the 2005 Rose Bowl game against Texas.
"They are a very athletic, close-knit family," said Jeff. "They joke with each other a lot. They love each other, and are big proponents of each other.
"Those (athletic) genes, I don't know where they got them from, but they've got them."
Cindy said, "I think we got my dad's genes. We're very competitive, and I was blessed to have two brothers who showed me what it was like to compete at a high level. They were inspirational and gave me such a support system. They advised me on what to do to become a better athlete since high school, and it's why I am where I am today, seeing my siblings do what they did. Jeff has been a great help as well. He really helped me in high school (Ann Arbor Huron) when he had sessions where he would coach me."
Tiffany added, "My family is everything. We are tremendously close. That support system has been invaluable for me in growing up, keeping me grounded, and keeping me inspired. My father was an athlete back in the day in Nigeria, and he understands athletics. My brothers both were Division I football players, and they understand and are able to encourage me when it's not going so well. Then they keep me hungry when it is going well.
"Then you add my sister and my husband, and that's a really good support system that is so important when you are raising an Olympian, so to speak."
Tiffany agreed that her father's genes supply the athleticism but added that her "spiritual" strength comes from her mother.
"My mom is very spiritual and religious," said Tiffany, "and she's helped me with my faith -- which is one of the biggest aspects about being an athlete."
Porter family all together with Jeff in right corner and front
Back (from left): Frank Ofili, Dr. Anuli Ofili, Dr. Felix Ofili, Lillian Ofili (She's holding Alex Jr. or AJ), Cindy Ofili, Dr. Tiffany Porter and Jeff Porter. Front: Crystal Nelson, Stephanie Ofili and Alex Ofili.
Jeff has a fraternal twin brother, Joe, and they played football at Franklin High in Somerset, New Jersey. He also has an older brother, John, Jr., and older sister, Dr. Tiffany Sanders Canarozzi.
"My brother and I didn't come off the field when we played football," Jeff said of his playing days with Joe. "Football is my first love. Rutgers and the University of Virginia recruited me to play football. Rutgers wanted me to play football and run track on a partial scholarship. Michigan recruited Joe because they wanted him to run track on a partial scholarship. Rutgers offered Joe a full scholarship, and Michigan offered me a full scholarship."
They went the full-scholarship routes to become a Scarlet Knight and Wolverine.
"It was the first time we'd ever been apart," said Jeff, the 2007 NCAA indoor champion in the 60-meter hurdles (7.64 seconds) for the Wolverines and also a Big Ten hurdles champion.
Joe was the Big East champion in 2006 in both the indoor and outdoor 200 meters and was part of a 4x200 relay team that set a national record. He also was a football standout and played cornerback for parts of two NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers (2008) and Oakland Raiders (2011). He's currently a history teacher at Franklin High.
Left: Jeff Porter (right) with twin brother Joe (left) and older brother John Jr. (center) // Right: (Left to right) Joe Porter, Jeff Porter, Dr. Tiffany Sanders Canarozzi and John Porter Jr. at the 2007 NCAA track and field meet where Jeff won the NCAA indoor 60-meter hurdles championship.
Their father, John, and mother, Linda, always attended their meets and games.
"Dad was the biggest fan I ever had," said Jeff, whose father participated in high school track and field. "Dad was the reason...he strongly suggested I run track. He said, 'Why don't you run the hurdles? You have long legs.'"
His father, a lawyer, worked out of an office in Manhattan, and Jeff said the lung cancer that took his life was a direct result of what he inhaled in the aftermath of escaping the city following the 9/11 terrorist toppling of the World Trade Center in 2001. John was a non-smoker.
"My dad was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in December 2006," said Jeff. "I won the NCAA championship the next year in March, and Dad was there, he was happy.
"The last time I saw him -- and this is why it resonates so much with me -- was 2008 at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. So, every time I go back to Eugene, it's a constant reminder of the last time I saw him alive. I didn't make the team that year, but he was happy as hell to be there. His son, from south Jersey, had qualified for the Olympic trials!"
Eugene, where he will be trying one more time to reach the Olympics, is a place where he strongly senses his father's presence.
"I feel him," said Jeff. "Going to Eugene is going to be another chance to look at him. Man!
"He's always there, and he's always my constant motivation. I saw him deteriorate before my eyes, but he was always there for me and always working. The thing I didn't appreciate about Dad when he was here was that he had bigger dreams than I had for myself."
Jeff recalled that pinch-me moment when the Olympic "dream" became reality.
"In London," he said, "walking onto the track for the first time in practice and realizing that I'm at the Olympics, seeing the (Olympic) rings everywhere. I'm here! This is my dream. I got through the preliminary round and said, 'Oh, my God, I just got through the first round of the Olympics!' "
Jeff came close to making the finals but was eliminated in a semifinal heat. Tiffany, running with a back injury, also was gone after the semifinals.
"Now, we're trying to repeat history," Jeff said of racing once again in the Olympics.
He said Tiffany and Cindy called him once he was eliminated from the race for medals in London.
"They said, 'Hey, you've got to go to Rio! You've got to get a medal.' The whole thing is that, 'We have to get a medal!' I said, 'No, I don't want to train for another four years.' Four years later, here we go again."
He took a deep breath and exhaled, "Whewww."
Read Part I in Monday's (June 20) MGoBlue.com: Jeff and Tiffany Porter and Cindy Ofili discuss their dream of running the hurdles together in the Rio Olympics and what they gained at Michigan, while Jeff and Tiffany recall how they met, Jeff's creative proposal, and a coach's prediction that they would become man and wife.
Players Mentioned
