Tokyo-Bound: Porter Qualifies for Historic Third Straight Olympics
6/27/2021 4:24:00 PM | Women's Track & Field, Olympics
MANCHESTER, England -- Former University of Michigan women's track and field standout Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (2006-09) qualified for the third Olympic cycle in a row to represent Great Britain in the 100-meter hurdles on Sunday (June 27), becoming the first woman in Michigan Athletics history to accomplish that feat.
Porter clocked a stadium-record 12.78 (-1.0m/s wind) in a decisive win in the Muller British Athletics Championships 100-meter hurdles final to clinch her berth to the Tokyo Games later this summer. The performance at Manchester Regional Arena marked her fifth career British national title in the event.
Michigan has now qualified women for track and field competition at each of the past five Olympic Games dating back to 2004.
Porter's qualification to the Tokyo Olympics is especially noteworthy as she becomes the first woman in Michigan Athletics history to qualify for three Olympic Games. She also represented Great Britain in 2012 and 2016, finishing seventh overall in the latter. In her career, she is a four-time global medalist, earning a bronze outdoors in 2013, a silver indoors in 2012, and bronze medals indoors in 2014 and 2016.
At Michigan from 2006 through 2009, she was a five-time NCAA champion between the indoor 60-meter hurdles and the outdoor 100-meter hurdles.
Sister Cindy (Ofili) Sember did not fare quite as well in the final, as she struggled to a third-place finish in 13.20. Only the top two finishers in each event -- given that they have achieved the Olympics qualifying standard -- were granted automatic roster spots for Team GB, with a third slot open for a discretionary selection.
As the fastest British woman this year and the returning Olympic fourth-place finisher, Sember is likely to be selected for the team when the full roster for Tokyo is announced in the coming weeks, though she will have to wait for her ticket to officially be punched.
Since Sember and Porter were fourth and seventh, respectively, in the final at the Rio Games in 2016, both women have had uncertain journeys back to this point. Sember suffered what could have been a career-ending injury in 2017 that kept her away from competition for 13 months.
Porter's path has been more joyous as she and husband Jeff Porter -- himself a two-time Olympian -- welcomed their daughter into the world in 2019. In the nearly two years since, she has simultaneously raised a child while working to regain the form that carried her to two Olympic Games.
The women's 100-meter hurdles competition in Toyko is scheduled for July 31 (qualifying round), Aug. 1 (semifinals) and Aug. 2 (final).
