Nigerian sprinter, Favour Ofili has made it to the final of the women’s 200m event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Favour Ofili finished second in her semi-final with a season’s best time of 22.05 seconds, just behind Julien Alfred, who won with a time of 21.98 seconds on Monday.
This achievement is historic because Ofili is the first Nigerian to qualify for the 200m final at the Olympics since Mary Onyali.
Mary Onyali, who competed at the Atlanta ’96 games, is the only Nigerian to have ever won a medal in this event.
Born in 2002, six years after Onyali’s success, Ofili will aim to surpass her compatriot’s bronze-winning performance. The final will take place on Wednesday at 8:40 pm.
Ofili’s success in the 200m comes after she was excluded from the 100m race due to administrative issues.
Watch the video below:
It's official! Favour Ofili is the first Nigerian woman in 28 years to qualify for the 200m final at the Olympics!
From being overlooked for the 100m to breaking records and making history, she executed her race plan effectively, securing the second automatic qualifying spot in… pic.twitter.com/lSYkSSK0gt
— Ólú ndị Igbo (@VoiceOfTheEast) August 5, 2024
Favour Ofili is trending because Nigeria's Track Star Girl has qualified for the final women's 200m event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
After finishing second behind St. Lucian's Julien Alfred, who won the race with a time of 21.98seconds, while Ms. Ofili finished in 22.05s.… pic.twitter.com/aUIHdNx1I7
— Trending Explained (@TrendingEx) August 5, 2024
KanyiDaily recalls that Favour Ofili recently blamed the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) for failing to enter her name to compete in the 100-meter race at the 2024 Paris Olympics.