Nigeria’s rising star Favour Ofili has moved one step closer to realizing her Olympic dream by qualifying for the final of the women’s 200m at Paris 2024. Ofili finished second in her heat with a season’s best time of 22.05 seconds, just behind Julien Alfred, who won the race with a time of 21.98 seconds.
The 21-year-old athlete, hailing from Delta State, missed competing in the women’s 100m due to registration issues by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC). Despite this setback, Ofili expressed her determination to showcase her talent at the Games.
Ofili’s qualification marks a historic achievement as she becomes the first Nigerian woman to reach the 200m final in 28 years. The last Nigerian to achieve this feat was Mary Onyali, who won a bronze medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics—a year before Ofili was born.
In other Olympic news, Nigerian wrestler Blessing Oborududu lost her semi-final match against Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan in the women’s freestyle 68kg category, with a score of 3-1. The 35-year-old had a tough start to the Games, initially conceding two points against Canada’s Linda Morais. However, she made a remarkable comeback, scoring six unanswered points to secure an 8-2 victory, propelling her to the semi-finals.
Oborududu continued her strong performance by defeating France’s Koumba Larroque 6-2 in a fiercely contested quarterfinal bout. Despite her semi-final loss, Oborududu will now compete in a repechage mini-tournament, aiming to secure one of the two bronze medals available.
