Tiffany Porter's father Felix is Nigerian, her mother Lalana is British of African descent. She herself was born in the United States. Porter 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".
Athletics career
As an American athlete, Porter represented the United States at the inaugural NACAC Championships 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, 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 losing her record had made her "devastated". She stated that if a British-born athlete, for example Jessica Ennis or Sarah Claxton, who at the time both had personal bests of 12.81s, had broken her record she would have been "the first to congratulate", but as Porter had transferred from the United States, she was "absolutely distraught". Porter lowered her British record on 22 July 2011, with a time of 12.60s at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco, breaking her previous personal best of 12.73s. Her record was broken on 3 August 2012 by Jessica Ennis in the London Olympics heptathlon achieving 12.54s. In September 2011 she was nominated for "European Athlete of the Year". In October 800m runner Mariya Savinova was announced as the winner. UK Athleticshead coach, Charles van Commenee 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 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 and Yamile Aldama. She was nominated again in May, this time with Hannah England and eventual winner Jessica Ennis. In 2013 Porter switched coaches from James Henry to Rana Reider, and moved to Loughborough to train with Reider's group at Loughborough University'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 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, behind Sally Pearson of Australia. Two weeks later, she won the European Championships in Zurich, with a time of 12.76. In September, at the IAAF Continental Cup, she broke the UK record with a time of 12.51 secs, finishing behind Dawn Harper-Nelson of the USA.
Personal life
Porter is the older sister of the hurdler Cindy Ofili, who also competes for Great Britain. Porter married American hurdler Jeff Porter 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 University of Michigan with a PharmD degree in 2012.
