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Favour Ofili

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Favour Ofili
Personal information
Full nameFavour Chukwuka Ofili
NicknameStar Girl
Born (2002-12-31) 31 December 2002 (age 21)
Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria
EducationUniversity of Port Harcourt
Louisiana State University
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Sport
CountryNigeria
SportAthletics
EventSprints
College teamLSU Lady Tigers (2021)
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Nigeria
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2022 Birmingham 200 m
African Games
Gold medal – first place 2019 Rabat 4×400 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2019 Rabat 400 m
World Athletics U20 Championships
Gold medal – first place 2021 Nairobi 4x400 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Nairobi 200 m
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Nairobi 4x100 m relay
African Youth Games
Gold medal – first place 2018 Algiers 400 m
African Youth Championships
Gold medal – first place 2019 Abidjan 400 m
Gold medal – first place 2019 Abidjan 200 m

Favour Chukwuka Ofili (born 31 December 2002)[1] is a Nigerian track and field sprinter who competes in the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x100 meters relay races. Ofili made her Olympic debut for women’s 200m on 4th August, 2024 at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 200m, She remains in top 3 overall for both preliminary and semi-final rounds, finishes 6th in her Olympic-Final debut as a first-time Olympian.

She is the 2019 African Games silver medallist in the 400 metres. Ofili won silver for the 200 metres at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She was the 2021 World Under-20 Championship bronze medallist in the 200 m. Ofili is the African indoor record holder in the event and holds Nigerian record (also at U20 level) over the distance with a time of 21.96 seconds, making her the first Nigerian woman in history (and second African woman) to break the 22-second barrier.[2] She also ran 10.93 seconds in the 100 m in April 2022, becoming the first female NCAA athlete to run sub 11s and sub 22s.[3]

Career

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Early Career

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Fvour Ofili Began athletics in 2014. She was just a high school student in Delta State, southern Nigeria, with nothing to her name except a firm belief in her talent, ignited in her by her high school coach, Anne Otutu.[4]"Coach Anne Otutu saw me and said I'll be good and I was just this little girl and I'm like OK, 'let's give it a try, I want to see what I can do'. But I didn't know that I am going to do well in it until I made my first African international competition team." She trained in Port Harcourt with coach George Obiano until she moved to the United States.[5]

2019

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Favour Ofili was named the female athlete of the meet at the 2019 African Under-18 Championships after winning the 200 and 400 metres with new personal bests in both.[6] Still 16, she represented her country at the World Relays in Yokohama a month later, running in the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 400 m relays.[7] She won the 200 m and finished second behind Patience George in the 400 m at the Nigerian Championships in July, running under 52 seconds at the longer event for the first time. Ofili bettered this mark at the African Games a month later, finishing second with 51.68 s and qualifying for the World Athletics Championships in Doha.[1] She also anchored the Nigerian team (Kemi Francis, Patience George and Blessing Oladoye) to a gold medal in the women's 4 x 400 m relay at the Games. This secured a second senior medal for the young athlete. As the youngest athlete at the World Championships in September, she improved her 400 m personal best to 51.51 s but was eliminated in the semi-finals.[1][8]

2020 - 2021

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Ofili earned a scholarship at the Louisiana State University[9] (USA) in 2020, after her performance at the 2019 World Championships, which caught the attention of sprint coach Dennis Shaver, who becomes her personal coach. On 27 February 2021, she set an African indoor record in the 200 m with a time of 22.75 s at the SEC Indoor Championship in Fayetteville, Arkansas.[10]

Missing out on Tokyo 2020 despite qualified for Tokyo 2020, Ofili was ruled out of Tokyo 2020 after arriving in Japan because the Nigerian federation had failed to ensure they met the minimum drug-testing requirements for 10 of its athletes. She was able to find some comfort at the World U20 Championships a few weeks later in Nairobi, where she won bronze in the 200 m and two medals for relays, with her mark in her individual event being the third-fastest ever by a U20 woman.[8] Ofili claims that The World U20 championships was a miracle competition for her. Going into the competition, she was not physically or mentally OK because of what happened with her place on the Olympic team. She went to Nairobi to have fun and, to her greatest surprise, it turned out to be great. She learned a lot from that competition and it helped changed her mindset.[4]

2022

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In February 2022, Ofili outdid her African indoor 200 m record three times, improving it ultimately to 22.46 s.[10] She held the NCAA collegiate record in the outdoor event with her time of 21.96 s set on 15 April that year, until Abby Steiner broke the record two months later. Ofili's mark set at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida surpassed 14-year-old Blessing Okagbare's Nigerian record and was also an African record at the time.[8]

2023

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She became also the second-fastest indoor 200 m runner in collegiate history (after Steiner) in February 2023, setting even better African indoor record of 22.36 s at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.[11] In December 2023, Ofili graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Sport and Fitness Administration/Management from Louisiana State University (USA). Ofili signed a professional contract with Adidas after she left the college scene. [12]

2024 Paris Olympics

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In 2024, Ofili qualified for Paris 2024 Olympic in 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4x100 meters again, after missed out Tokyo 2020.

However, it wasn't until a few days before the 100 m event that it was discovered her country had failed to register her in time, preventing her from competing for 100 m.[13] For this, she would be compensated with $5,000 because investigations were made and it was discovered that she had no part in the blames.[14]

Despite this shocking setback, Ofili delivered an outstanding performance for 200 m. She won her heat, finished 2nd overall in the preliminaries round with 22.24s, and finished 3rd overall in the semi-finals with a time of 22.02s.[15]

Ofili made her Olympic-Final debut for 200m as a first-time Olympian. Favour Ofili finished 6th in the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, with a time of 22.24 seconds in lane 9, just a 0.04 seconds gap with Brittany Brown who finished in 3rd place. Gabrielle Thomas of the United States won the gold medal with a time of 21.83 seconds.[16]

Ofili and her team achieved a season-best time of 42.70s in the 4x100 m relay, with Ofili clocking a 10.09s split. Placing 6th in the heat, 9th overall. This result prohibits them from advancing to the final, bringing her 2024 Olympic journey to an end.[17] After the Olympics, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria accused Ofili of being an uncontrollable athlete after rumours of her changing her nationality surfaced online.[18]

2024

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Achievements

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International competitions

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Representing  Nigeria
Year Competition Venue Position Event Time
2018 African Youth Games Algiers, Algeria 1st 400 m 53.57
Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires, Argentina 10th 400 m tot. 1:53.02
2019 African U18 Championships Abidjan, Ivory Coast 1st 200 m 23.38 CR
1st 400 m 52.28 CR
World Relays Yokohama, Japan 17th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 45.07 SB
18th (h) 4 × 400 m relay 3:32.10 SB
African Games Rabat, Morocco 2nd 400 m 51.68
1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:30.32
World Championships Doha, Qatar 21st (sf) 400 m 52.58
15th (h) 4 × 400 m relay 3:35.90
2021 World U20 Championships Nairobi, Kenya 3rd 200 m 22.23 NU20R
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 43.90 SB
1st 4 × 400 m relay 3:31.46 WU20L
2022 World Championships Eugene, OR, United States 10th (sf) 200 m 22.30
4th 4 × 100 m relay 42.22 AR
Commonwealth Games Birmingham, United Kingdom 2nd 200 m 22.51
1st 4 × 100 m relay 42.10 AR
2023 World Championships Budapest, Hungary 18th (sf) 200 m 22.86
– 4 × 100 m relay DNF
2024 African Championships Douala, Cameroon 2nd (h) 100 m 11.221
Paris Olympics Paris, France 6th 200 m 22.24
9th 4 × 100 m relay 42.70

1Did not start in the semifinals

National titles

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  • 200 meters: 2019
  • 4 × 400 m relay: 2021
  • 4 × 400 m mixed: 2021

Personal bests

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Favour OFILI – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. ^ Maduewesi, Christopher (6 August 2022). "Favour Ofili bags 200m Commonwealth Games Silver medal!". Making Of Champions. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Live Track & Field Results | Delta Timing". Athletic Live. DeltaTiming. 30 April 2022. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022. 1 - Favour Ofili - LSU - 10.93
  4. ^ a b "Breaking records is just the starting point for Ofili as she reaches for the stars". World Athletics. 4 May 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  5. ^ "OFILI Favour". Paris 2024 Olympics. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  6. ^ Olus, Yemi (4 May 2022). "Breaking records is just the starting point for Ofili as she reaches for the stars". World Athletics. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Nigeria medal hopefuls as Doha World Championships begin". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  8. ^ a b c Watta, Evelyn (16 May 2022). "Meet Nigeria's 'Star Girl' Favour Ofili". Olympics.com. IOC. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Favour Ofili - 2021 - Track & Field". LSU Tigers. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  10. ^ a b Philémon (3 March 2022). "200m Indoor: Favour Ofili hits three African records in one month". Sport News Africa. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  11. ^ Sik, Braydin (13 February 2023). "USTFCCCA RANKINGS – February 13, 2023". LSU Athletics. Louisiana State University. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  12. ^ Fameso, Funmilayo (23 August 2023). "Louisiana State University track star Favour Ofili has officially turned professional and signed for Adidas". Pulse Sports. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  13. ^ Karoney, Celestine (31 July 2024). "Nigerian inquiry after Ofili left off Olympic start list". BBC Sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  14. ^ "Paris Olympics AFN disaster: Favour Ofili to be compensated with $5,000 following Investigative Committee report". Pulse Sports Nigeria. 4 November 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Olympic Schedule & Results-Athletics - Women's 200m". Paris 2024 Olympics. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  16. ^ Shehu, Idris (6 August 2024). "Paris Olympics: Ofili finishes 6th as Gabrielle Thomas wins women's 200m gold". TheCable. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  17. ^ "Women's 4x100m Relay Results - Paris Olympic Games 2024 Athletics". WATCH ATHLETICS. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  18. ^ "AFN not worried by Ofili's rumoured move to dump Nigeria". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
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