Olympic drama

Federation to blame: sprinter bursts into tears

Favour Ofili burst into tears in the catacombs.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Glyn KIRK, twitter.com/osasuo)

Tearful drama surrounding Favour Ofili! The Nigerian federation had not entered the sprinter for the "supreme discipline" 100 meters, which is why she could no longer hide her emotions of the last few days and broke down during the 200-meter race.

Imagine training for the Olympic Games for four years in order to perform at your best and compete for medals. And then the federation forgets to register you for a competition. That's what happened to Favour Ofili. She was not allowed to compete in the 100 meters in Paris.

Ofili wrote on Instagram: "I've been working for this moment for four years. For what? For not being entered and not being able to compete at the Olympics because the responsible organizations let me down?"

Personal best time would have been enough for silver
The 21-year-old Nigerian had qualified in advance for both the 100m and the 200m. On Tuesday evening, she came sixth in the 200 m final. She had already run 10.78 seconds in the 100 m in April this year, which would have earned her the silver medal in the Olympic final.

After the final 200-meter race, the weight of the last few days fell off Ofili's shoulders. She burst into tears in the mixed zone, journalists tried to comfort her and hugged her.

Particularly bitter: she had also qualified for the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. But she didn't compete there either - because the federation had botched the doping tests.

Now she only has the 4x100-meter relay left. Will she be able to celebrate a medal there? She would certainly like to.