Ofili, a sprinter born in Delta, left Nigeria for Turkey

Favour Ofili, a sprinter from Delta State, Nigeria, appears to have shifted to Turkiye just before the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

Late Saturday, Jamaican journalist Kayon Raynor posted Ofili’s flip on his X Twitter.

As of May 31, 2025, Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili has shifted allegiance to Turkey.

The 22-year-old Ofili has informed the Athletics Integrity Unit of her dissatisfaction with the Nigerian Athletics Federation, Raynor wrote on X.

He added that the Nigerian Olympic Committee and the Nigerian Athletics Federation had not registered Ofili for the 100-meter race at the previous Paris Games, and that she had missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“Ofili claimed that the Nigerian Athletics Federation prevented her from competing in the 100m at the Olympics in Paris after failing to verify her doping control test results, and that this prevented her from attending the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.” However, she placed sixth in the 200-meter final.

“It is also understood that Ofili made it clear to the AIU that she had no financial motivations for moving to Turkey.”

Favour Ofili, who holds the world record for the 150-meter event, is not the first Nigerian athlete to switch their country.

Despite the revelation of her change of allegiance, Ofili, who won silver in the 200m at the most recent Commonwealth Games in 2022, is still recognized by World Athletics as Nigerian.

The transfer to Turkiye must be completed within a minimum of three years because she competed for Nigeria in the Olympics.

Although there might be some favorable situations, Ofili will miss the 2027 Beijing World Athletics Championships and this year’s Tokyo World Athletics Championships because of the delay in the process.