Paris 2024 Olympics: Nigerian Favour Ofili not registered for 100m

Nigeria's Favour Ofili, center, crosses the finish line ahead of Natalliah Whyte and Gina Bass in the 200 m semi-final at the Commonwealth Games.   -  
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Manish Swarup/Copyright 2022 The AP. All rights reserved

Nigeria's national 100 metres champion will not compete in the Paris Olympics because, she says, the national athletics federation failed to register her in time.

Favour Ofili said on social media: "It is with great regret that I have just learned that I will not be competing in the 100m at the Olympic Games . "

The women's 100m heats will kick off the Olympic track on Friday. Ofili won the Nigerian national title in June with a time of 11.06 seconds . Her personal best time of 10.93 would have put her in the final.

A recent graduate of LSU, she is still competing in the 200m and 4x100 relay. According to the Olympic press service, Ofili missed the Tokyo Games because Nigeria failed to meet the minimum testing requirements for a number of its athletes, as required by the Athletics Integrity Unit.

Today, she said, that federation forgot to register her for the 100m. "I worked four years to deserve this opportunity. For what?" she said on social media.

In a statement, Nigeria's Sports Minister John Enoh said he had been in touch with officials from the country's athletics federation and they had assured him that Ofili had been included in the entry forms for the 100, 200 and 4x100, and that the forms had been forwarded to the Nigerian Olympic Committee for submission.

Enoh said he was waiting for an explanation from the head of the Nigerian Olympic committee as to why she was excluded from the 100m.

This is not the first time Nigerian athletes have faced this problem. At the 2019 world championships , an administrative error nearly disqualified Divine Oduduru and Blessing Okagbare , who were only allowed to run after appealing to World Athletics .

Hammer thrower Annette Echikunwoke ended up missing the Tokyo Olympics because of the same doping control issue that cost Ofili.

World Athletics only said Ofili was entered for the 200 and the 4x100 relay.

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