100 Team GB contenders for London 2012: Tiffany Porter

Athletics (100m hurdles)

Born: 13/11/87

Career highlights

The American-born sprint hurdler has soared up the rankings from 24th in the world to become a genuine medal prospect since joining the British set-up in late 2010.

She won European indoor silver on her British debut - losing out on gold by only one thousandth of a second - and has repeatedly lowered the national outdoor record.

She was on course for a medal at the World Championships but clipped the penultimate hurdle in the final and slipped back from second place to fourth.

Did you know?

Porter has had dual citizenship since birth: her mother is from London and her father is Nigerian.

Porter was born and raised in the Michigan town of Ypsilanti, where Iggy Pop was brought up in a trailer park.

Career lowlights

Porter was described as a plastic Brit in some sections of the media when she switched allegiance from the USA, but she insists her decision was motivated by the greater access to facilities and support staff in the UK, and not by money (she already had sponsorship) or opportunism.

Nonetheless, when she first broke the British record the previous holder, Angie Thorp, contacted a national newspaper to say she felt "robbed."

Porter won world junior bronze for the USA in 2006 but admits to having struggled to make the transition to being a full-time athlete; she did not improve her personal best for three years from 2008 and there were nine Americans ranked ahead of her when she devoted herself to Britain.