Tokyo-Bound: Sember Selected for Second Olympics on Team Great Britain
6/29/2021 6:47:00 PM | Women's Track & Field, Olympics
BIRMINGHAM, England -- Former University of Michigan women's track and field national champion Cindy (Ofili) Sember on Tuesday (June 29) was officially selected to represent Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics later this summer, marking the second straight Games in which she will compete.
Sember, who is ranked No. 7 in the world in the 100-meter hurdles for this 2021 outdoor season at 12.53 seconds, had an off-day at the Muller British Championships this past weekend and only managed a third-place finish -- one spot outside of automatically qualifying for the Team GB Olympics roster.
As one of only two British women who have achieved the 12.84 Olympic qualifying standard in the event -- the other being her sister, fellow former Wolverine Tiffany (Ofili) Porter, who was the British champion to merit automatic selection -- she was selected after-the-fact by British Athletics to the full roster. Each nation is allowed as many as three entries per event at the Olympics.
In addition to joining sister Porter for the second straight Games -- Sember was fourth and Porter seventh in Rio in 2016 -- she joins her among the select few women in school history who have qualified to multiple Olympics. Among track and field athletes, the list now includes only three-time qualifier Porter and two-time qualifiers Sember and distance runner Nicole (Edwards) Sifuentes.
Since Sember and Porter's thrilling performances at the Rio Games in 2016, both women have had uncertain journeys back to this point. Sember suffered what could have been a career-ending injury in 2017 that kept her away from competition for 13 months.
Porter's path has been more joyous as she and husband Jeff Porter -- himself a two-time Olympian -- welcomed their daughter into the world in 2019. In the nearly two years since, she has simultaneously raised a child while working to regain the form that carried her to two Olympic Games.
The women's 100-meter hurdles competition in Toyko is scheduled for July 31 (qualifying round), Aug. 1 (semifinals) and Aug. 2 (final).
