Shortly before the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Favour Ofili, a Nigerian sprinter from Delta State, has apparently switched allegiance to Turkiye.
Journalist Kayon Raynor, who is located in Jamaica, revealed Ofili’s flip on his X handle late Saturday.
“Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili has switched allegiance to Turkey as of May 31, 2025.
Raynor posted via X that the 22-year-old Ofili has advised the Athletics Integrity Unit of her frustration with the Nigerian Athletics Federation,”
He further mentioned that Ofili had missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and that the Nigeria Olympic Committee and the Nigerian Athletics Federation had not registered her for the 100-meter event at the previous Paris Games.
“Ofili stated that the Nigerian Athletics Federation caused her to miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after they did not confirm her number of doping control tests, and then missed competing in the 100m at the Paris Olympics after they did not enter her for the event. She however finished a distance sixth in the 200m final.
“It’s further understood that Ofili impressed upon the AIU that her switch to Turkey was not for financial reasons.”
The 150-meter world record holder, Favour Ofili, is not the first Nigerian athlete to change their nationality.
Ofili, who won 200m silver at the most recent Commonwealth Games in 2022, is still listed by World Athletics as Nigerian despite the news of her allegiance change.
Because she represented Nigeria at the Olympics, there is a minimum three-year window for the transition to Turkiye to be finalised.
Ofili will miss the World Athletics Championships in Beijing in 2027 and Tokyo this year due to the process’s delay, though there may be some circumstances that work in her favour.