Photo Credit: Favour Ofili/Instagram
Nigerian sprint sensation Favour Ofili has reportedly switched international allegiance to Turkey, with the change taking effect from May 31. The move follows what sources describe as a long-standing dissatisfaction with the way her career has been handled by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
According to Jamaican journalist Kayon Raynor, sources close to the matter shared with TVJ Newscentre that the 22-year-old athlete informed the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) that her decision wasn’t driven by financial reasons, but by repeated disappointments with the way her career had been handled back home.
Ofili who holds impressive personal bests of 10.93 seconds in the 100m and 21.96 seconds in the 200m pointed to past setbacks, including Nigeria’s failure to meet doping control requirements that saw her miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She was one of ten Nigerian athletes barred from competition.
More recently, during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, she was excluded from the 100m event again, due to what she called another administrative error. Although she ran in the 200m final and placed sixth, the oversight deepened her frustration.
After the incident, she publicly expressed her disappointment in a statement shared online. In it, 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 my name… I have worked for four years to earn this opportunity.
At the last Olympic Games, I couldn’t compete because funds weren’t released for doping tests for athletes in the USA. That decision affected 14 Nigerian athletes. Now THIS. If no one is held accountable, how can these organisations be trusted in the future?
Ofili’s switch comes just three months ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
