★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ MORE TURKEY TRACK STARS ≡
Following last week’s revelations that four Jamaican field-event stars would transfer allegiance to Turkey in time to be eligible for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Nigerian sprint star Favour Ofili has also been reported to file for a change to Turkey.
Jamaican reporter Kayon Raynor posted on X:
“Nigerian sprinter @FavOfili has switched allegiance to Turkey as of May 31, 2025. According to impeccable @TvjNewscentre sources, 22-year-old Ofili has advised the [Athletics Integrity Unit] @aiu_athletics of her frustration with the Nigerian Athletics Federation.
“Ofili stated that the Nigerian Ath. Fed. caused her to miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after they did not confirm her number of doping control test & then missed competing in the 100m at the Paris Olympics after they did not enter her for the event. She was 6th in the 200m final.
“It’s further understood that Ofili impressed up on the AIU that her switch to Turkey was not for financial reasons.”
Ofili has run 10.93 and 21.96, both in 2022 and has run 10.99 this year.
Athletics Federation of Nigeria President Tonobok Okowa told reporters that the federation has not been formally informed by Ofili or World Athletics of the petition to switch to Turkey:
“If this is true, it is sad, disheartening and painful. But we are yet to get any official statement from her or any correspondence from World Athletics. She is a promising athlete with huge potential.
“We and the National Sports Commission have been working hard to get athletics and other sports in the country back on track. She is still our child, our sister, and our daughter. But it’s painful and hard to take for us. However, we will not stop her.”
Jamaica-based SportsMax reported Thursday that 2024 Olympic men’s discus winner Roje Stona and men’s shot put bronze medalist Rajindra Campbell had agreed to compete for Turkey, with additional reports on Friday that Olympic men’s long jump silver medalist Wayne Pinnock and Olympic men’s triple jump fourth-placer Jaydon Hibbert were also converting to Turkish eligibility.
Sportsmax reported Friday:
“All four athletes are said to be part of a broader initiative driven by Turkish sporting authorities and facilitated by a prominent American sports agent. According to sources, each athlete is set to receive a minimum of US$500,000, along with generous monthly stipends and six-figure bonuses for medals earned at global championships. Reports further suggest that the athletes have agreed to eight-year contracts, effectively committing to Türkiye through the 2032 Olympic cycle.”
There can be little doubt that Ofili would be eligible for similar support. Okowa said that Ofili had already been paid her training stipend for 2025.
Under World Athletics eligibility rules, there is a three-year waiting period for change-of-allegiance transfers to become effective, meaning all five could only represent Turkey in 2028, just in time for the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
Beyond that, however, the World Athletics rules also state that approvals of transfers are also conditional on:
“the Athlete demonstrating that as at the end of the waiting period:
● “i. they are or will be aged twenty or over; and
● “ii. they are or will be a Citizen of the Country or of the parent Country of the Territory which the Member represents; and
● “iii. they have or will have a genuine, close, credible and established link to that Country or Territory (e.g., through Residence there).”
All five athletes now switching to Turkey – Stona, Campbell, Pinnock, Hibbert and Ofili – have previously or are currently training in the U.S., and are likely to be primarily in the U.S. right through 2028. This makes sense, of course, as they will be preparing for an Olympic Games to be held in the U.S. as well.
But what does World Athletics do about star athletes whose day-to-day lives have little or nothing to do with their selected nationality?
The World Athletics Transfer of Allegiance Regulations, adopted in 2022, note that the federation has a responsibility
“to protect the credibility and regularity of National Representative Competitions, by ensuring that Athletes on a national representative team have a genuine connection with the Country or Territory represented, and do not switch either abruptly or frequently to other national representative teams for purely mercenary reasons.”
Will any of these questions be considered by World Athletics, or will these five – and perhaps others – simply be waived through?
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
