Favour Ofili bags 200 metres semi-final qualification

Nigeria’s Favour Ofili has qualified for the women’s 200 metres semi-final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Ofili stormed to a season’s best of 22.24 seconds to win heat 6 of the event.

She booked 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 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 expressed her frustration in a series of tweets on Tuesday, where she questioned 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, Nigeria’s Sports Minister, John Enoh, in his reaction, said he would probe the exclusion of Nigerian athlete Favour Ofili from the 100m women’s event.

“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. However, I am not concerned about other countries. My interest is with my own country 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.