Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili’s bid to switch her international allegiance from Nigeria to Turkey has now been formally rejected by World Athletics, ending a long‑running saga that began with frustration over administrative mishaps in her Olympic career and escalated into a public dispute over her sporting nationality.
According to the TheCable, Ofili, a 200m specialist who reached the final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, has repeatedly cited years of mismanagement by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) as key reasons for her desire to represent Turkey.
She was excluded from the 100m in Paris despite qualifying, after AFN officials allegedly failed to properly register her, and she had also been denied a Tokyo 2020 spot due to earlier AFN errors, fueling her sense of disillusionment.
In 2025 Ofili publicly confirmed she had begun the process of changing allegiance to Turkey, announcing through social media that the move was driven by neglect from Nigerian officials rather than financial incentives.
Turkish Athletics Federation submitted her transfer‑of‑allegiance application to World Athletics, but Nigeria’s National Sports Commission later intervened, arguing that she remained under its training‑grant obligations until 2028 and formally requesting World Athletics to block the switch.
World Athletics had previously stated that it had not yet reviewed or confirmed Ofili’s transfer‑of‑allegiance application, underscoring that such changes require clearance from both the athlete’s former and new federations, as well as compliance with eligibility rules.
The latest rejection means Ofili remains eligible to compete only for Nigeria in international competitions, effectively closing the chapter on her attempt to represent Turkey and refocusing attention on how AFN and the Nigerian government will retain elite athletes amid ongoing governance concerns.
