The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has expressed shock on why the name of sprinter, Favour Ofili got missing from the 100m event of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The reigning Nigeria 100m queen, Ofili had raised the alarm this morning on discovering that her name was not on the list of competitors for the 100m event. She accused the AFN of deliberately omitting her name from the 100m event.
But in a swift reaction, the AFN said this morning that it is also shocked on why Ofili’s name was omitted in the 100m.
“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,” AFN Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, said in a message to AFN Media.
It was gathered that the AFN submitted Ofili’s name for the three events on the final list it sent to the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) for the Paris Olympics. It was not clear this morning how her name was eventually left out in the 100m event.
Ofili ran 11.06 at the Nigerian Olympics Trials in Benin City to secure her place among the 56 athletes that will compete at the Paris Olympics. She has competed in more 100m races this season than the 200m and ran two wind-aided times of 10.85sec and 10.78secs.
Ofili took to her social media page to express her anger and disgust.
“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….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 to be tested, which made 14 Nigeria athletes that qualified to not compete.
