Team Nigeria is poised to win their first medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Tuesday, with sprinter, Favour Ofili competing in the women’s 200m final and wrestler Blessing Oburududu contending for bronze in the women’s 68kg freestyle.
Ofili secured her spot in the final with a season’s best of 22.05 seconds, finishing second in the first semi-final behind new 100m champion Julien Alfred. She previously clocked 22.24 seconds in the heats on Sunday. Ofili becomes the second Nigerian, after shot putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, to reach the track and field finals at the 2024 Olympics. She is also the first Nigerian woman in 28 years to make the 200m final, following Mary Onyali’s bronze at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
In the final, Ofili will run in lane three, competing against athletes like Great Britain’s Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith, whom she beat in the heats. She posted the third-fastest semi-final time, behind Julien Alfred’s 21.98 seconds and Gabby Thomas’ 21.86 seconds.
Meanwhile, Oborududu narrowly lost 3-1 to Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova in the women’s 68kg freestyle semi-finals. Despite this defeat, she remains in contention for a bronze medal and will face North Korea’s Pak Sol Gum in the repechage bout, aiming for her second consecutive Olympic medal.
Oborududu, a silver medalist at Tokyo 2020, showcased her skills with an 8-2 quarter-final victory over Canadian Linda Morais and a 6-2 win against France’s Koumba Larroque, demonstrating her resilience and talent throughout the competition.
