Ajunwa Describes Ofili’s Plans to Switch Country to Turkey as Embarrassing 

*Insists those who made her miss two Olympic events should have been punished

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigeria’s first and only individual gold medalist at the Olympic Games, Chioma Ajunwa, has described as unfortunate and embarrassing the decision of sprinter Favour Ofili, 22, to dump the country for Turkey.

Last Saturday, Jamaica-based journalist, Kayon Raynor, announced on his X handle Ofili’s request to World Athletics to switch her allegiance from Nigeria to Turkey. 

The sprinter who was denied the chance to run the 100m event that she qualified for the entry standard at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, cited her frustrations with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) in her letter to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Before the entry fiasco in Paris, Ofili was one of the 13 Nigerian athletes who were denied participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games because AFN didn’t do the needful mandatory dope testing needed to make the athletes eligible to compete in Tokyo.

Speaking yesterday at her yearly Chioma Ajunwa Foundation seminar on drug abuse for secondary school kids in Lagos, the Atlanta ‘96 Women’s Long Jump gold medalist, said inasmuch as Ofili was ill-advised on the decision to quit competing for Nigeria, those responsible for denying her the chance to compete at two Olympic Games should have been punished.

“I know it is not proper for her to resort to trying to leave Nigeria for another country but those who caused her to miss Tokyo 2020 as well as not competing in Paris 2024 100m event should have been punished. They are still at the AFN and this may have infuriated her to taking this extreme decision,” observed the retired senior police officer.

Ajunwa insisted that it was painful for an athlete to Train night and day for four years only to be denied the opportunity to compete at the highest level of the sport.

“I know what it means to train for four years and when it is time to showcase what she has been working night and day for, some officials now deny her that. That was wicked and a great pain for an athlete of her level,” stressed the multitalented former athlete.

She however insisted that AFN should have done so much to ameliorated her pains after both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 but none of such took place. “Something should have been done to ease her pains. Nothing of such happened. Besides, those officials responsible for her missing her events at two Games are still at the AFN and it was possible for a third time to happen. This I believe, must have pushed her to take this step of wanting to switch country to Turkey where she believes her talent will be better appreciated,” Ajunwa observed.

The former athlete however warned that Nigerian sports officials must learn to do the right things at the right time to avoid the situation of the country’s top athletes seeking better future in other countries.