Nigeria’s sprinter and strong medal contender, Favour Ofili has accused the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) of robbing her of the opportunity to compete in her favourite event, in the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics, after they failed to enter her as one of the competitors in the women’s 100m event.

Ofili, who had been preparing ahead of the Olympics for the past four years and won the Nigerian 100m title at the Olympic trials in Benin to qualify and seal her ticket, will sadly not be running the event in Paris, but hopes, at least, for the chance to run in the 200m event.

The National 200m Record holder, Ofili took to all her social media platforms to express her anger, saying this is the second consecutive time the federation has stood in the way of her Olympic dream – the first being in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to a lack of adequate testing provisions, showcasing the ineptness and disregard for the athletes by the both the AFN and NOC.

“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 my name.

“I have worked for 4 years to earn this opportunity. For what….to not be entered and compete at the Olympic Games because the responsible organization failed to enter me?

“Please remember, in the last Olympic Games I was not able to compete because AFN, NADC and NOC failed to release funds for athletes in the USA to be tested, which made 14 Nigeria 🇳🇬 athletes that qualified to not compete. Now THIS…If those responsible are NOT held accountable for taking this opportunity from me, neither organization can EVER be trusted in the future!

Next one is the 200meters, 🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

I HOPE IM ENTERED”

Ofili, 21, has had an impeccable season, recording a personal best of 22.33s in the 200m and shattering the African women’s 150m record at the Adidas Atlanta City games last June. She is ranked, 23rd in 100m and 52nd in 200m, with personal best rankings of 13th in 200m, 23rd in 100m, and 37th in 400m, in the world.

The 2019 African Games silver medallist, Ofili is the African indoor record holder in the 2021 World Under-20 Championship and holds the Nigerian record (also at U20 level) over the distance with a time of 21.96 seconds, making her the first Nigerian woman in history (and second African woman) to break the 22-second barrier. She also ran 10.93 seconds in the 100 m in April 2022, becoming the first female NCAA athlete to run sub 11s and sub 22s.