After years of frustration with Nigeria’s athletics authorities, sprinter Favour Ofili has officially switched allegiance to Turkey.
According to ThisDay, Ofili made the move after being denied a spot in the 100m event at the Paris 2024 Olympics—despite meeting the qualifying standard. She holds impressive personal bests of 10.93 seconds in the 100m and 21.96 seconds in the 200m.
Ofili was previously among the 13 Nigerian athletes disqualified from the Tokyo 2021 Olympics due to the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) failing to meet anti-doping requirements.
Citing years of poor management and negligence by the AFN, Ofili reportedly began the process of switching nationality on May 31, 2025, and formally notified the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of her decision.
Her move is believed to be driven not by financial reasons, but by the repeated administrative failures of the AFN—an organisation that, despite growing criticism, was re-elected in June 2025 for another four-year term.
Ofili, who finished sixth in the 200m final at the Paris Olympics, said her only goal is to represent a country that will recognise and not waste her talent.
