It was an emotional ending for Nigeria sprinter, Favour Ofili in the women 200 meter final at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
She burst into tears, running into the tunnel and became uncomfortable in the locker room as she was in an online trending video, on Wednesday ( 7 August 2024).
This is the anti climax reaction from Ofili after she finished sixth in the women’s 200meter final race with a time of 22.24s.
A race she is determined to finish on the podium as many Nigerians are solidly behind her to go all the way.
The reason(s) for her tears are not far fetched. Though she is the best person who can precisely lay the reason (s) for her to cry beyond the obvious of failure to win any medal in the event.
Her reaction on her X account gives an insight into the real reason for her cry as she aptly summarised her mental state of the last nine days, since she broke the news of her omission from the 100 meter start list.
Emotional Ofili wrote on X: ‘ Gods will not mine. It’s been a hard one coming. Tried to be mentally ready regardless of the shocking news I took few days back. I gave it my all from lane 9″.
The 33 words coded the reason for her overall performance on the final day and the reason for the tears.
And encoding it we can say she shed tears to release the bottled anger and frustration caused by the maladministration of the authorities in Nigeria, via the Athletics Federation of Nigeria , AFN and the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC.
She shed the tears for the mental stress and pain she was put through by authority failure and her resolve to shame his ” enemies ” by winning the race or at best win a medal but failed.
She wept because the enemies within may be having the last laugh, for whatever reason they have for omitting her name.
She wept probably because the AFN and NOC claimed her name was submitted and how it got missing during transmission remain a mystery.
She wept probably seeing another Nigerian, Annette Echikunwoke who switched her Allegiance to represent the USA and won a Silver medal three years after authority Maladministration cost her, Ofili and 8 others to miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics .
It could also be a reason for her to cry, for she has the option of jumping the Nigeria ship for the America, maybe she could have won two medals in the 100 and 200 meter like Saint Julien Albert, the world fastest woman.
Amidst all the nonsense, the Nigerian public supported her all through, that’s probably part of the reason for her cry, that she couldn’t repay the support with a podium finish.
To an average fan she is a winner, that’s a huge consolation for her great effort and composure to qualify for the final and won their hearts by becoming the first Nigerian to appear in the final for the first time in 28 years, amidst the AFN and NOC madness.
It will be a huge relief and a bigger consolation for her and Nigerians if the minister of Sports, Joseph Owan will live to the billings and unravel how her name got missing from the 100 meter Start List.
Unraveling who removed her name only will not do , but the motive for omission without her consent must be established and the culprit(s) and accomplice(s) must not go unpunished.
This is when justice can be said to be served and perceived to be done.
May Nigeria win, and stop the shedding of innocent tears.
