Favour Ofili, one of the brightest Nigerian sprinters currently representing the country in the ongoing Paris Olympics, has expressed her displeasure with the failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Olympic Committee to register her name to compete in the 100-metre race at the 2024 competition.
The athlete who spoke about the failure of the two organizations noted that the officials should be held responsible and accountable, as she expressed scepticism about the trustworthiness of the two bodies.
In a post released on her social media handle, the athlete expressed her frustration, noting that her years of work to earn the position had become a failure. She noted that though qualified, the organizations responsible for registration failed to register her name for the 100-metre race.
She noted the committee had done the same act repeatedly after she had missed registering her name in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, prompting the athlete to withdraw from the 100-metre race. in her explanation, the AFN, NADC and NOC filled in to make available the required funds for competitors from Nigeria to be tested, which resulted in the disqualification of 14 Nigerian athletes.
Ofili, who expressed hope for her to be registered for the 200-metre category at the Olympics, noted that the organization’s officials should be made to answer questions about the situation that has repeated itself for the second time in a row.
In April 2024, Ofili secured her spot at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic at the James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, after locking an impressive 22.33secs (+1.4 m/s). The timing of the athlete reflected her best, also suppressing the standard for the Paris Olympics which was set at the 22.57secs.
Her emergence left behind athletes from (the USA) and Denmark, who are Anavia Battle Ida and Karstoft, respectively.
Joining Tobi Amusan, Edose Ibadin, Ruth Usoro, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, Favour Ashe, and Ezekiel Nathaniel, she became the seventh athlete to have automatically qualified from Nigeria for the 2024 Olympics. However, the current failure of the regulatory organizations will prevent her from competing in the 100 metres.
Offili, who is currently in her first year of a professional career, in May 2024 broke different records, 150m straight, which she set at the Adidas Atlanta City Games; she ran 16.30s and won Marie Josée Ta Lou of Ivory Coast’s 16.60s time.
She missed the late Tori Bowie’s world record by 0.006s while her training partner, Candace Hill, won the race after jointly getting the same 16.30s.
The Louisiana State University star 2023 signed a deal with Adidas. Still, it failed to perform actively the same year after injury plunged her 2023 World Championships in Budapest performances, which led to her withdrawal at the semifinals.
In February 2024, she returned and broke the African record in the women’s 300m at the 2024 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston. Ofili, where she ran a time of 35.99s. She explained that her return to the tracks was not easy but noted that she had an interesting time and enjoyed the process.
Nigerian currently has 88 participating athletes at the Paris Olympics, comprising 25 males and 63 females.
