Nigeria’s Favour Ofili has qualified for the women’s 200 metres semi-final at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Ofili stormed to 22.24s which was her season’s best to win heat 6 of the event
She booked her place in the semis ahead of Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Gambia’s Gina Bass-Bittaye.
21-year-old Ofili was denied participation in the 100 metre race at the ongoing Olympics in Paris due to administrative failures by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
She had expressed her frustration in a series of tweets on Tuesday, where she questioned the trustworthiness of both organisations and called for accountability from those responsible for her lost opportunity
Her post read, “It is with great regret that I have just been told I will not be competing in the 100 metres at this Olympic Games. I qualified, but those with the AFN and NOC failed to enter me. I have worked for four years to earn this opportunity. For what?”
However, Sports Minister John Owan Enohhe in reaction said he would probe the exclusion of Nigerian athlete, Favour Ofili, from the 100m Women’s event
Enohhe in a later statement revealed that other countries share similar circumstances to that of Ofili’s.
“I have been duly informed that some other countries have similar issues, and these aforementioned bodies do not want to open a floodgate that would become difficult to manage. Howbeit, I am not concerned about other countries. My interest is with my own country Nigeria and who is responsible for the nonlisting of Favor Ofili.”, he said.
“Furthermore, I have been briefed that World Athletics submitted, that when the final list was published in July by it, AFN should have called its attention to the omission of Favor Ofili’s name. This still doesn’t address the issue. At what point did her name drop out of the 100m race? Who’s responsible for this? What’s the motivation behind this? What’s the trail of communication from AFN to NOC and to IOC and/or World Athletics?
