ANN ARBOR – Sisters Tiffany (Ofili) Porter and Cindy (Ofili) Sember are Tokyo-bound after qualifying for track and field events on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
The former University of Michigan track and field standouts will represent Team Great Britain at the games.
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Porter qualified on Sunday for her third straight Olympics, becoming the first female athlete in U-M history to do so. She clocked 12.78 in her race on Sunday -- and set a stadium record -- at the Muller British Athletics Championships.
Porter represented Great Britain in the 2012 and 2016 games, during the latter of which she finished seventh overall. She holds four global medals from 2012-2016 and was a five-time NCAA champion in the outdoor 100-meter hurdles and the indoor 60-meter hurdles while at U-M from 2006 to 2009.
Sember is currently ranked No. 7 in the world in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.53 seconds. She finished in third place this past weekend at the Muller British Championships in what was described as an off-day for her.
The first two finishers automatically qualify for Team GB’s Olympics roster. British Athletics selected Sember after-the-fact to the full roster. According to Olympics rules, each country can enter up to three competitors per event.
Sember finished fourth in Rio in 2016 before suffering a severe injury in 2017 that kept her out of competition for 13 months.
Porter and her husband Jeff Porter -- a two-time Olympian himself -- welcomed a daughter in 2019. For the past two years, Porter has been both raising a child and training full-time to re-qualify for her third Olympic Games.
The women’s 100-meter hurdles qualifying round will take place on July 31 in Tokyo. The semifinals and final will take place on Aug. 1 and Aug. 2.