Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili has reportedly switched her allegiance to Turkey ahead of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Afrosport reports.
This follows the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Ofili met the requirements to compete in the women’s 100-meter event but was left out after the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) failed to register her for the event.
It marked the second time in her career that she missed an Olympic event due to the manhandling from the nation’s athletics body, adding to the 2021 saga where the AFN and Nigeria’s National Anti-Doping Committee (NADC) failed to get her and 13 other athletes tested in time for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The 150m world record holder, who was deeply frustrated with the federation’s manhandling, will now represent Turkey, having reportedly begun the process on 31 May 2025. This also continues the trend of Nigerian athletes opting to represent other countries due to the dysfunctionality in the athletics system.
The move, meanwhile, was announced by Jamaica-based journalist Kayon Raynor on his official X platform.
“Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili has switched allegiance to Turkey as of May 31, 2025,” he wrote.
Ofili competed at the 200m event in Paris, finishing sixth, and her switch to the European country is reportedly to be devoid of any financial motivations.
The 22-year-old is one of several Nigerian athletes to have qualified for this year’s World Athletics Championships, slated to take place from 13-21 September.
She made history at the Adidas Atlanta City Games in May, setting a new world record in the 150m, having clocked a time of 15.85s to shatter the previous record of 16.23s held by Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo.
Ofili currently boasts personal best times of 10.93 seconds and 21.96 seconds in the 100m and 200m, respectively.
