Who is Favour Ofili? Meet the LSU alumna who qualified for Paris Olympics 2024 in her first season as a pro athlete

Favour Ofili is a track and field athlete from Nigeria who specializes in the sprinting discipline. She recently stood out with her impressive performance at the Tom Jones Invitational 2024 in the women’s 200m Olympic development program.

Ofili not only clinched a resounding victory with a time of 22.33 secs (+1.4 m/s) in her 200m season-opener but also booked her place in Nigeria's squad for the Paris Olympics 2024. The Olympic qualification time for the women’s 200m was set at 22.57s.

Her performance at the Tom Jones Memorial 2024 makes her one of the track athletes to watch out for with less than four months to go until the Games.

Since Ofili has qualified for the Olympics, she will now be aiming to win Nigeria’s second medal in the discipline in the history of the Summer Games. Mary Onyali was the first athlete who bagged the 200m bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 with a time of 22.38s.

With this, let’s dive into knowing more about the Louisiana State University (LSU) alumna who is one of the most promising track athletes in the world at present.

Favour Ofili’s hometown and education

Ofili was born on December 31, 2002, in Port Harcourt, Rivers, Nigeria. She graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in December 2023.

Favour Ofili’s top achievements

Favour Ofili (L), Elaine Thompson-Herah (C), Christine Mboma (R) pose for a photo during the medal ceremony for the Women's 200m Final at 2022 Commonwealth Games. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

Favour Ofili is a two-time African Games medalist with a gold in the 4x400m and a silver in the 400m, where she clocked 51.68s. All the two medals came in the 2019 edition held in Rabat, Morocco.

She is also a Commonwealth Games silver medallist in the 200m which she achieved in Birmingham in 2022. Ofili registered a time of 22.51 to finish only behind Jamaican star and two-time Olympic champion in the event, Elaine Thompson-Herah, who clocked a Games record of 22.02.

Some of her other prominent accomplishments at the international level include winning three medals at the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2021. She bagged gold in the 4x400m relay and two bronzes in the 200m and 4x100m relay at the prestigious U20 competition in Nairobi.

Additionally, she earned the female athlete title at the African U18 Championships 2019 after she established new personal bests and won the 200m and 400m events. She currently holds the African and national record in the women's 300m which she attained at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 2024 with a time of 35.99s.

A look into Favour Ofili’s collegiate career

One of Favour Ofili's standout performances during her college days was establishing the then-NCAA collegiate record in the 200m as she clocked 21.96s on April 15 at the Tom Jones Memorial 2022. With this, she smashed the Nigerian record by surpassing the 14-year-old record of Blessing Okagbare.

She concluded her collegiate journey as a 13-time USTFCCCA First Team All-American, which placed her 10th in LSU women’s history, and was a six-time SEC champion.