Dr. Tiffany Adaeze Porter ( Ofili; born 13 November 1987) is a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete with joint British and American nationality who specialises in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

. She represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a junior, but began representing

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 2010 on joining the senior ranks after moving to England and competed for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Porter won a bronze medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2013 World Championships. In 2014, she won a silver medal representing

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. Later in 2014 she took her first major title, a gold medal at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, becoming the first British woman to win a European title in the event. Her personal best of 12.51 is the current British record. She is also a two-time medallist over 60 m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships. She is the sister of Cindy Ofili, another elite-level sprint hurdler with dual British and American nationality; Ofili, too, chose to represent Great Britain internationally. Unlike Porter, Ofili had never represented the United States as a junior. Both sisters made the final of the 100 metre hurdles at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Tiffany Porter's father Felix is

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

, her mother Lalana is

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

of African descent. Porter was born in the United States. She has held both American and British nationality since her birth. She has therefore been eligible to represent both the United States and Great Britain. She describes herself as "proud to be American, British and Nigerian".

NCAA

Tiffany (Ofili) Porter (2006-09) is a five-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

national champion and

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

selection during Hall of Fame

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Wolverines women's track and field career. Ofili won three straight national crowns (

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

- 09) in the 100-meter hurdles.

Athletics career

As an American athlete, Porter represented the United States at the inaugural

NACAC Championships The North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships is a continental track and field athletics event organised by the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association. The last of the six IAAF areas to hold a conti ...

winning a silver medal. However, at the end of the 2010 season, she changed her allegiance to Great Britain. Commenting on her switch, she said: "I knew I was going to perform no matter what vest I had on. I have always regarded myself as British, American and Nigerian. I'm all three." On 29 May 2011, at the

Fanny Blankers-Koen Games The FBK Games is an annual track and field event at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadion in Hengelo, Netherlands as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1981. Its name honours Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold med ...

, Porter broke Angie Thorp's 15-year-old British record of 12.80s in the 100m Hurdles with a run of 12.77s. Thorp said that she was "devastated" at losing her record to an American-born athlete. Thorp said that she would have congratulated an established British athlete who took her record; at the time

Jessica Ennis Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (born 28 January 1986) is a British retired track and field athlete from England, specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, ...

and

Sarah Claxton Sarah Claxton (born 23 September 1979) is a retired English athlete who specialised in the 100 metres hurdles. Claxton grew up in Colchester, Essex. She attended Monkwick Infant and Junior schools then went on to The Thomas Lord Audley School a ...

both had personal bests of 12.81s. Porter lowered her British record on 22 July 2011, with a time of 12.60s at the

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

meeting in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, breaking her previous personal best of 12.73s (set when she was still a US athlete). Her record was broken on 3 August 2012 by

in the London Olympics

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

achieving 12.54s. In September 2011 she was nominated for " European Athlete of the Year". In October 800m runner

Mariya Savinova Mariya Sergeyevna Savinova (russian: Мария Сергеевна Савинова; born 13 August 1985) is a Russian former athlete who specialized in the 800-metres event. In 2017, she was found guilty of doping and was subsequently suspen ...

was announced as the winner.

UK Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials. The orga ...

head coach,

Charles van Commenee #REDIRECT Charles van Commenee {{R from other capitalisation Redirects from other capitalisations ...

gave Porter the responsibility of the team captaincy ahead of the 2012 World Indoor Championships in March; she was subsequently labelled a " Plastic Brit" after refusing (or being unable) to recite the words of the British national anthem in a press conference. In 2012 Porter was nominated for "European Athlete of the Month" twice. In March she was nominated along with fellow Brits

Katarina Johnson-Thompson Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson (born 9 January 1993) is an English athlete primarily known as an elite multi-eventer, both as a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. She has been World Champion in both disciplines, and a double Commonwealth G ...

and Yamile Aldama. She was nominated again in May, this time with Hannah England and eventual winner

. In 2013 Porter switched coaches from James Henry to Rana Reider, and moved to Loughborough to train with Reider's group at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

's High Performance Centre. At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, she won a bronze medal in the 100 m Hurdles in a personal best time of 12.55 seconds, just one hundredth of a second off Jessica Ennis' British record of 12.54. Porter began 2014 by winning a bronze medal in the 60 m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships. Then in August, she ran 12.80 to win a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, behind

Sally Pearson Sally Pearson, OAM (née McLellan; born 19 September 1986) is an Australian former athlete. She is the 2011 and 2017 World champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at t ...

of Australia. Two weeks later, she won the

in Zurich, with a time of 12.76. In September, at the

IAAF Continental Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as t ...

, she broke the UK record with a time of 12.51 secs, finishing behind

Dawn Harper-Nelson Dawn Harper-Nelson (born May 13, 1984) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100-meter hurdles. She was the gold medalist in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the silver medalist in the 2012 London Olympic ...

of the US.

Personal life

Porter is the older sister of the hurdler Cindy Ofili, who also competes for Great Britain. Porter married American hurdler

Jeff Porter Jeffrey Issack Porter (born November 27, 1985) is an American track and field athlete who competes in the 110-meter hurdles. He has a personal best of 13.08 seconds for the event. He gained a spot on the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics ...

in May 2011, and began to compete under her married name in July 2011, initially as Tiffany Ofili-Porter, then simply as Tiffany Porter. She graduated from the

with a PhD in pharmacology in 2012.

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Tiffany 1987 births Living people Track and field athletes from Michigan American female hurdlers British female hurdlers Olympic female hurdlers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Michigan Wolverines women's track and field athletes American people of British descent American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games