Olympic: Favour Ofili Qualifies For Women’s 200m Final

Favour Ofili has become the first Nigerian in 28 years to qualify for the final of the women’s 100 meters at the Olympics.

The 21-year-old clocked 22.05 seconds to secure second place in heat 1 of the women’s 200-meter semi-final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Nigeria has not had a representative in the event’s final since Mary Onyali accomplished this feat at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Onyali finished the final with a bronze medal, coming in behind France’s Marie-Jose Perec and Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey.

Ofili was born in 2002 — over six years after Onyali claimed the accolade.

She was only surpassed by Julien Alfre, the women’s 100m Olympics champion, who finished first with 21.98 seconds.

The race was cleanly executed by Ofili, who was well ahead of third-placed Makenzie Long of the US.

She qualified for the final with the third-best time overall in the semi-finals, which makes her a medal hopeful in the event.

The final of the event is billed for Wednesday by 8:40 pm.