On Tuesday, 30th of July, Favour Ofili–Nigeria’s women’s 100m national champion–realized that her name was missing from the women’s 100m event of the Paris Olympic Games.
Favour Ofili, born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, has been a track and field sprinter since 2018. She is the first Nigerian woman in history (and the second African woman) to break the 22-second barrier in the 200m race. She was the youngest athlete at the World Championships in September. She set an African indoor record in the 200m with a time of 22.75 seconds at the SEC Indoor Championship in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
It is with great regret that I have just been told I will not be competing in the 100 meters at this Olympic Games. I qualified, but those with the AFN and NOC failed to enter me. I have worked for 4 years to earn this opportunity. For what? pic.twitter.com/eehuKziNaU
— Favour Ofili (@FavOfili) July 30, 2024
She came first in the 400m African Youth Games, the 200m and 400m African U18 Championships. Her team came first in the 4x400m African Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and World U20 Championships.
Her presence will be missed at the Olympics and somewhat dwarfs Nigeria’s representation, shining a light on the general disregard Nigerian governing bodies have for extracurricular activities. In her tweets condemning the situation, she said: “It is with great regret that I have just been told I will not be competing in the 100 meters at this Olympic Games. I qualified, but those with the AFN and NOC failed to enter me. I have worked for 4 years to earn this opportunity. For what?”
Technical Director of the AFN, Samuel Onikeku, in response to the probable mistake from the Olympics, refuted that “We registered Ofili for the 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m relay. We don’t know how her name got missing in the 100m. This is our stand as a federation,” via AFN Media.
In this same vein, Favour reiterated an event from the last Olympics when she was not able to compete because AFN, NADC, and NOC failed to release funds for athletes to be tested, which made 14 Nigerian athletes who qualified unable to compete.
It is evident that AFN needs to address how they react to situations involving athletes.
