Nigeria’s Favour Ofili has qualified for the women’s 200 metres semi-final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Ofili achieved a season’s best of 22.24 seconds to win heat 6 of the event, securing her place in the semi-finals ahead of Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Gambia’s Gina Bass-Bittaye.
The 21-year-old Ofili was previously denied participation in the 100-metre race at the ongoing Olympics in Paris due to administrative failures by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC).
Expressing her frustration in a series of tweets on Tuesday, Ofili questioned both organizations and called for accountability from those responsible for her lost opportunity.
She wrote, “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?”
In response, Nigeria’s Sports Minister, John Enoh, announced he would investigate the exclusion of Favour Ofili from the 100m women’s event.
He stated, “I have been 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. However, my concern is with Nigeria and who is responsible for the non-listing of Favour Ofili.
“Furthermore, I have been briefed that World Athletics submitted that when the final list was published in July, AFN should have called its attention to the omission of Favour 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?” he inquired.