Ypsilanti native Tiffany Porter falls .08 seconds short of Olympic hurdles final

By Pete Cunningham Sports Director

Posted on Tue, Aug 7, 2012 : 3:22 p.m.

Ypsilanti native Tiffany Porter, above, missed the women's 100-meter Olympic final by .08 seconds.

David J. Phillip | Associated Press

Ypsilanti native Tiffany (Ofili) Porter’s Olympic Games came to an end on Tuesday afternoon. Eight hundredths of a second and three places kept Porter, who competes for Great Britain, out of Tuesday afternoon’s final.

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Porter -- a former state champion at Ypsilanti High School and NCAA champion at the University of Michigan -- finished fourth with a time of 12.79 seconds in the second semifinal heat on Tuesday behind world champion Sally Pearson of Australia (12.39), Canadian Jessica Zelinka and American Lolo Jones (12.71).

Porter’s hopes to make Tuesday’s 4 p.m. final were temporarily alive as she held the second fastest non-automatic qualifying time after the heat. The top two finishers in each heat automatically qualify for the medal race as well as the two fastest times across all heats.

But in the third and final heat, Canadian Phylicia George and Russian Tatyana Dektyareva finished third and fourth, respectively, with times faster than Porter. Jones and George (12.65) claimed the two non-automatic berths. Americans Dawn Harper (12.46) and Kellie Wells (12.51) won the first and third heats.

Porter is a citizen of both Great Britain and the United States who competes for the country of her mother's birth rather than her own. Porter’s husband, Jeff Porter -- also a former national champion at Michigan -- qualified for the men’s 110-meter hurdles semifinal for the United States on Tuesday morning with a time of 13.53 seconds.

“Tiffany didn't make it through w/ 12.79 but she is & will always be my CHAMP. Love you babe #hurdlingbeyondlimits #running4u," Jeff posted on Twitter after Tiffany's race.

Jeff will compete in the men’s 110 hurdles semifinals Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. with the final scheduled for 4:15 p.m.