Conqu'ring Heroes: Ofili Porter Credits Family, Friends on Her Journey to Success
11/9/2023 10:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
By Danielle Hersh
Few Michigan athletes are two-time Olympians and even fewer have gone to the Olympics three times. Former U-M track and field star Tiffany Ofili Porter is the first woman in University of Michigan history to be a three-time Olympian. She joined Thursday's (Nov. 9) edition of the "Conqu'ring Heroes" podcast to talk about her being a member of the Michigan Hall of Honor Class of 2023.
A native of nearby Ypsilanti, Mich., Ofili Porter said, "I always wanted to go to the University of Michigan when I was a child."
Once she arrived on campus, she quickly took her place in the U-M track and field record books. Ofili Porter was a nine-time individual Big Ten Champion and five-time individual national champion in the 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles.
"It was definitely a motivator because it's kind of like once you win one, the bullseye is on your back to continue to produce," she said about being the best in the country at the time. "So that was always a motivator in the weight room and on the track."
Ofili Porter also was a member of two Big Ten Championship team titles during her time at U-M, with one coming from the 2006 indoor season and the other from the 2007 outdoor season.
"It was incredible," she said. "Those women went on to be my best friends, my bridesmaids. It just shows that we were great teammates during that time but then also went on to become incredible friends as well."
Ofili Porter translated her success at Michigan into success on the professional circuit, earning numerous podium finishes throughout her career. She competed in the 2012, 2016, and 2021 Olympics. In 2012, she competed in London alongside her husband. At Rio in 2016, she competed with her husband, former U-M men's track and field Big Ten and NCAA champion Jeff Porter, and her younger sister, former U-M track and field standout Cindy Ofili Sember. For her final Olympics, Jeff coached both Tiffany and Cindy for the 2021 Tokyo Games.
"I think for us, one thing that we were very intentional about doing was separating track and then family life," Ofili Porter said about navigating the athlete-coach, husband-wife relationship leading into the 2021 Games.
A couple of years prior to Tokyo, she gave birth to her first child, something she is as proud of as her accomplishments on the track.
"I'm really happy, and that was one of my biggest achievements as an athlete, to just show myself and other women that life does not have to end when you become a mom."
All the love that Ofili Porter has had for U-M since she was a child came full-circle when she heard from Warde Manuel about her induction into the Hall of Honor.
"I was just super excited," Ofili Porter recalled. "I'm so looking forward to stepping up and going and actually receiving the honor with my family and now with my two children. I appreciate it more than words can say."
